Definitely Not A Flour Baby
by Lil Drop Of Magic
Summary: Quinn's parents offer her a new start and she decides to take it so Puck decides to take control of his daughter's life but he very quickly realises that he can't do it on his own. He needs some help. Eventual Puckleberry.
1. The Arrival of Baby Girl Fabray

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

Chapter 1 The arrival of Baby Girl Fabray

* * *

Rachel Berry looked into the chamber that held all the newborns in the hospital, quickly locating 'baby girl Fabray' in the second row of cribs. Her tiny hands fisted either side of her head were all Rachel could see of the newborn that wasn't covered in the pink blanket. She still could not believe that only a few hours earlier that perfectly formed little human being had been living in Quinn. _Weird_ was an _understatement_; something that Rachel Berry barely ever allowed herself to express, even inside her head.

Quinn was asleep now, which was hardly surprising given the excruciating twenty-hour labour. And lucky Rachel Berry had been there from the very beginning. Not really through choice but there had been very few other volunteers to help Quinn through the miracle of birth. And that, Rachel thought, was a term that was honeyed up considerably because what she had seen in that delivery room was not a _miracle_ but a horrific bloody nightmare of terrifying proportions. She shuddered as she remembered the sights, smells and sounds she been subjected to in support of Quinn.

But enough of that. Rachel knew she'd probably go through it all again regardless because she felt really bad for Quinn. Sure, if she hadn't drunkenly slept with her boyfriend's best friend none of this would've happened but Rachel tried not to be one to judge. Once Finn found out that he was not the father of her unborn child he requested that Quinn find somewhere else to live. He didn't do it maliciously of course, Finn's just not that sort of guy. But it was agreed by both parties that things would be too awkward over the dinner table after the gigantic lie she'd been getting them to live. The real father of the baby, Noah Puckerman, had offered that Quinn stay at his but she turned him down, stating that she already had morning sickness to remind her how fucked up her life was without the added suffering of sharing pancakes with the instigator of her shittiness at 7am every school day. Quinn's words, not Rachel's.

Rachel had still felt bad about the whole blabbering to Finn thing which had resulted in Quinn's current predicament and after pleading the pregnant girl's case to her fathers she offered that Quinn come and live with them. Naturally Quinn had been highly sceptical of Rachel's offer at first but Rachel promised that there was no hidden motive behind the suggestion; she just wanted to be a good friend to her fellow Glee-clubber. Quinn had rolled her eyes at her goody-two-shoes-ness but agreed.

The first few weeks were undeniably _awkward_ as they got used to being around each other for long periods of time but things eventually levelled out. They were friends, not crazy BFFs or anything like that but they got on ok and Rachel was more than willing to help out with any weird pregnancy symptom that Quinn was experiencing.

And yesterday, Quinn's waters finally broke, which was a huge relief to Rachel because the baby was a week late and her hormones were turning Quinn into a super-bitch. That goes to show just how cranky Quinn was being because Rachel highly disapproved of cursing.

Puck had showed up a couple of hours into the labour but Quinn had refused to let him see her. Rachel was sent to give him the message that he, "could hold the baby once she arrived but couldn't step a foot into the delivery until that moment."

He had slouched down in his chair and put his hands behind his head with a muttered, "Whatever, Berry." She was about to call him on his awful nonchalance acting but decided that now was probably not the best time.

She went back to Quinn and subsequently had her hand nearly crushed over the next few hours. Rachel believed that she now had a perfect reference to look back on should she ever be required to act out a woman giving birth (possibly a _too_ accurate reference). But once the bloody, writhing blob that was Quinn and Puck's child belted out her first cry all thoughts of Broadway and Academy Awards faded into the far background. She had never seen anything so disgustingly beautiful (oxymoron anyone?). Both she and Quinn were crying as the screaming bundle was passed into Quinn's arms.

After a few minutes Quinn offered the baby to her but she declined. "I believe that seeing as he's the father, it is only right that Noah should get to hold the baby next." Quinn frowned slightly but nodded and Rachel went to fetch him. It felt weird to be out in the real world again and she stumbled slightly out into the corridor.

When she got to the waiting room she discovered that Puck was asleep. Rachel couldn't blame him; it was four-thirty in the morning. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder and he woke with a start.

"Shit, Berry! Don't do that!" he almost growled at her before remembering where he was. "Is everything alright? Is she here?"

Rachel beamed at him. "Don't worry, Noah. Despite the fact that it was a rather prolonged birth both mother and daughter are fine. Quinn says that it's ok for you to hold her now. Hold the baby that is - not hold Quinn herself."

Puck dragged a hand down his face and pulled himself to his feet before following Rachel to Quinn's room. "She's got a healthy set of lungs on her. I think she's definitely going to be a member of Glee in years to come." Rachel showed him the door and left the two of them alone. This felt like a private moment.

She took a few minutes to let her fathers and the other Glee members know what had happened before a sudden thought struck her that maybe someone else should know about Quinn's giving birth...

So here she was, a few hours later looking down at 'baby girl Fabray'. Quinn had decided not to give her a name seeing as she was going to be someone else's little girl soon enough and Quinn didn't want to get attached in any way.

She walked back towards Quinn's room and was only partially surprised to see Mr. and Mrs. Fabray at the other end of the corridor, looking nervous. She was glad that they had agreed to come; Quinn really needed her parents right now.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Fabray? I'm Rachel Berry, I spoke to you on the phone earlier." She held out her hand and they both shook it somewhat reluctantly. "I think Quinn's asleep right now so I could take you to see your grand daughter if you like while we wait for Quinn to wake up?"

From the way their postures both stiffened and their faces tightened Rachel sensed she had said something wrong but she wasn't sure what.

"We are only here to see our daughter, Rachel. So if you could wake her for us." Said Mrs. Fabray in a rather emotionless tone.

"Um, ok." Rachel didn't like being inarticulate but on this occasion she couldn't help it. She was starting to think that calling them may not have been a good idea.

She knocked quietly on Quinn's door and poked her head into the room. Quinn sleepily opened her eyes and stretched, yawning. "What is it?" her voice asked croakily as Rachel shut the door behind her.

"Earlier I took the liberty of phoning your parents because I thought they ought to know that you'd given birth and now they're here to see you. I'm sorry if over stepped some sort of boundary. Do you want me to send them away?" By even Rachel's standards she'd said this quite quickly and Quinn took a few seconds to process the words.

"My parents are here?" she eventually groaned.

"I'm sorry -" Rachel started again but Quinn cut her off.

"Let's just get this over with then. I'll deal with you later." She said with a half smile but Rachel wasn't entirely sure that she was joking.

She let Quinn's Mom and Dad into the room before stepping back into the corridor. _Again._

Rachel mulled over what she should do next. Any hospital beverages were completely out of the question (who knew how many dodgy chemicals could be found in their 'coffee'. She liked her vocal chords as they were thank you.). She'd explored the gift shop twice already and had only found it depressing seeing as she couldn't buy Quinn any congratulatory balloons or cuddly toys. She yawned and realized just how freaking tired she was. She couldn't actually remember the last time she'd slept – it seemed like a week since Quinn's waters had broken. Perhaps a walk around the block would wake her up.

Rachel found the cooler air outside refreshing but she could not help but walk quite quickly as she wasn't sure that leaving Quinn completely alone with her parents was such a good idea when she was in such a vulnerable state.

She knocked on Quinn's door a little breathlessly after her fast walking and opened it without waiting for an answer. Quinn was the only other person in the room and she was perched on the edge of the bed, her back facing Rachel who couldn't help to notice that her blonde friend's body language was supremely negative and defensive.

"Is everything ok?" Rachel enquired cautiously when Quinn didn't acknowledge her presence.

Quinn stood up and turned around and two things registered in Rachel's mind immediately. First, Quinn had been crying, _a lot_. Second, Quinn was dressed in normal clothes, not a hospital gown.

"Quinn, what -"

"I'm leaving, Rachel."

"You want to go back home? Ok, I'll go check that's ok with the nurse. We should really wait until the adoption worker shows up."

"No, Rachel. I'm leaving. I'm leaving Lima, I'm leaving the whole state."

So many thoughts and questions flew through Rachel's head that it took her a while to pinpoint just one. "But. _Why?_"

"My parents have offered me a new start and I'm gonna take it. We're leaving immediately." Quinn placed some of her things in the baby bag they'd prepared for the birth while Rachel tried to process what Quinn had said.

"You don't need to move! Why can't you just stay here? I know you're feeling all emotional -"

"You have no idea how I'm feeling!" Quinn cut in. "My heart is breaking and I can't stand it! I just want to forget that this ever happened and that's not going to be possible going to McKinley everyday and seeing Puck or Finn or even you! I can't _deal_ with that. I want my old life back and maybe getting a fresh start will do it for me. I've still got two years left of high school and I don't need this following me around for the rest of my life."

"Quinn, _please_ just think about this for a few minutes-"

"No. If I stop now I might change my mind and I don't want to. Look, Rachel, you've been so nice to me, much nicer than I've deserved but you're not going to change my mind. My parents are waiting to take me to yours to get my stuff and then I'm going."

Quinn stuffed the last things into her bag and began to zip it up.

"Are you even going to say goodbye to her?" Rachel asked, her voice choking with emotion. The zip stopped moving and Quinn looked at her.

"I can't," she whispered, the tears forming at her eyes once more.

"Quinn,"

"No, Rachel." The zipping was complete and Quinn hoisted the bag onto her shoulder and moved towards the door.

"Quinn, _please._" She begged.

"I'll leave my key on the side." Quinn told her and Rachel could tell she was putting up some sort of front. "Bye, Berry and thanks, you know, for everything."

And then she was gone.

Rachel Berry was quite frankly speechless. A very irregular occurrence.

"Oh, shit." Another irregular occurrence.

She reached for her cell, located the number and waited for him to answer. "We've got a problem of gargantuan proportions."

* * *

A/N Ok, this first chapter is kinda depressing and angsty but the rest of the story is not going to be. It had to be kinda sad because Quinn's just left her baby! L

If there were any Britishisms in there I do apologise and feel free to point them out.

Oh, and I need suggestions for baby names pretty please! It most definitely is not going to be Drizzle.

Let me know what you think!

Lil Drop of Magic


	2. The Influence ofa FingerSqueezin Monkey

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world

A/N Thanks so much for the story alerts, favourites and reviews guys! I was really surprised by the response my story got! It made me happy all day yesterday :)

Chapter 2: The Influence of a Finger Squeezing Monkey

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"We've got a problem of gargantuan proportions."

Puck sighed loudly. This was not the first time that Rachel Berry had phoned him. Since Quinn had moved in with her Puck had requested that Berry keep him up to date with what was happening baby-wise. It wasn't like he cared that much. Really. Ok, so maybe his heart would beat twice as fast whenever he saw her name on the caller ID. Wait, that sounded _so_ wrong. It definitely wasn't because _Rachel Berry_ was phoning (because dude, seriously) but his nerves would kinda jump at the thought that something might be wrong with his little girl.

Berry never really had anything particularly interesting to say but the way she told her 'news', you'd think that the latest scan of the kid showed it had wings (which would've been totally _awesome,_ by the way).

"What is it now, Berry?" He doubted there was anything seriously wrong. Firstly, he didn't know what that 'gargan' word meant so it could mean there was a small problem. Plus, what most people considered a tiny problem, Rachel Berry thought was a full blown catastrophe. That girl was such a fucking drama-diva.

"Quinn's gone." If he hadn't been so shocked at what she'd said he would've been impressed at her new found ability to get straight to the point without using a hundred unnecessary words beforehand.

"What are you talking about?" His tone was gruff but he didn't care.

"I phoned Quinn's parents to tell them that the baby had been born and I suggested that they come and visit them both and so they showed up. They declined to see the baby so I left them to talk to Quinn and I was only gone a few minutes after a refreshing walk around the block but when I came back Quinn said that she's leaving the state! She doesn't want to stay in Lima anymore because it'll just remind her of the baby. It all happened so quickly and now she's gone and everything's all messed up and I don't know what to do!"

He reached for his jacket and checked that his keys were in the pocket. "Don't get your panties in a twist, Berry. I'm on my way."

He just managed to hear her say, "Ugh, you're so _crude_," before he snapped his phone shut and hurried to his truck. His little girl needed him.

* * *

Berry was pacing nervously in Quinn's old room when he arrived. When she saw him her eyes went wide and he got kinda freaked out. She looked _crazy._ Her hair was all over the place and the expression on her face made him want to stab a wooden stake into her chest before she bit him or something.

"_Finally!_ Why have you taken so long? I've been freaking out here. A doctor or nurse is gonna turn up any minute and ask where Quinn is. They'll probably think I've murdered her or something!"

"For God's sake, Berry, just shut up." He said. "I'm sure it's not a big deal."

"But Quinn needs to be here to make sure the adoption goes ahead. The adoption worker needs her signature before she can take the baby to the new parents!"

Puck rolled his eyes. "Berry, seriously, take a chill pill. While you're trying to get your head screwed back on properly," (if it ever was in the first place) he added in silently, "I'm going to go check on my daughter."

He walked to the nurses' station and asked that his daughter be brought to Quinn's room. The kindly old nurse said that she'd get on it right away and he cautiously made his way back. Berry was sat on the edge of the bed, deep in thought. He was relieved to see that she didn't look quite so crazy anymore.

Her head snapped up at him when he opened the door.

"I've just realised." She said, making him raise an eyebrow.

"Realised what?" he asked, bewildered.

"You can sign the baby over. You're her father and it only needs one parent to sign the documents. I can't believe that I didn't think of that earlier, I mean, I know I'm pretty sleep deprived at the moment but that should not excuse my glaring error of not recognising your significance in the matter."

He said nothing as the nurse entered the room with the pink bundle that was his daughter encased safely in her arms. "There you go sweetheart, let me know when you want her to go back."

Puck muttered a thanks as he carefully settled his daughter into his arms. The little girl opened her eyes blearily at him and he lost himself in her greeny-brown eyes. Yeah, sure, it sounded like girly-shit but this was his fucking daughter! This was what life was about.

He placed his finger next to one of her hands and she reached out and grabbed it. Hard. She'd done the exact same thing when he'd held her the first time when she'd only been a few minutes old. And he knew that babies couldn't really think all that much when they were so puny and her having weird psychic powers was unlikely but it was like she knew who he was and she was telling him to stay, like she didn't want him to let her go. He hadn't wanted to let go but it was what Quinn wanted and he knew there wasn't really a lot he could do to fight her.

But Quinn wasn't here anymore. She'd wimped out.

His girl tugged at his finger and he was reminded on an episode of Friends his sister had forced him to endure. It'd had some shit about a monkey and a scrabble tile and this dude had totally freaked out when the monkey had squeezed his finger and made him realise he was going to be a father. Yeah that's right, a _monkey._ Puck had thought that whole thing was utter bull crap, until this moment.

Because Puck _was_ a father. And he was not going to wimp out of _his_ responsibility to his daughter like Quinn had. Or how his own father had done to himself and his sister.

Berry had come to stand next him and was gazing at the baby too. "She's beautiful," she whispered in a quieter voice than he would've thought possible of her.

"Thanks." He adjusted his arms slightly into a more comfortable position. It was very quiet in the room and he realised he was probably about to ruin that. "Berry?"

"Yes, Noah?"

"That signing of documents and shit? I'm not doing that."

* * *

A/N Thanks for all your baby name suggestions, I have looked through them all and still haven't made up my mind yet so if you have any more then feel free to drop me a line.

I just have a quick question; does anyone actually know when Quinn's baby is due? I could've sworn that in the show at some point it says about Spring Break but the dates don't quite add up if that's the case.

Looking forward to hearing what you think!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	3. Threats

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. Love you lots!

Chapter 3: Threats

* * *

"That signing of documents and shit? I'm not doing that."

Rachel stared at him like he was a Tony award that had someone _else's_ name written on it. Basically, she was confused.

"What do you mean you're not going to sign the adoption papers? If you don't do that then she can't be adopted. We'll be stuck with her." Rachel wasn't sure why she'd said _we _seeing as 'Baby Girl Fabray' wasn't really her responsibility.

Puck looked her straight in the eye. "I know," he stated, simply.

Rachel laughed weakly. "Please tell me that this is some prank of yours that I don't understand because from the way that you're speaking you sound as though you want to keep this baby."

"I'm not shitting with you, Berry. This little girl is mine."

"So you're going to raise her? On your own?" Rachel asked him in disbelief.

"If I have to." He replied turning his back on her.

"But Quinn wants -"

"Quinn's not here. She left. So this is my decision to make."

"Right, ok. Can I ask you one question?" Rachel enquired trying to get her head round this massive turn of events.

"I guess."

"Are you completely and utterly insane?!" she cried.

Puck glared at her over his shoulder. "Keep it down, Berry, she's gone back to sleep."

"Noah, you can't raise this child on your own. Do you have any idea how much it costs to bring up a baby? A recent study claims that it costs $200,000 to raise a child to the age of 18. That's approximately $11,000 a year. Do you happen to have just over ten grand left over from your pool cleaning job last summer?" She didn't wait for a reply. "And just when are you going to procure the time to look after her if you can't afford some form of day care; you've got school and not to mention commitments to football and Glee? She's not a flour baby, Noah!" She paused to take a breath and Puck jumped in before she could get going again.

"What in the name of _shit_ is a fucking _flour baby_?" he asked, bewildered.

"It's what they sometimes use in parenting classes. Kids have to carry round a bag of flour for a week and pretend to take care of it. The _point_ of the reference is that you can't give this baby back when it's three o'clock in the morning and she's screaming, vomiting, pooping and won't go back to sleep and you need to get up in three hours to go to school. She's a real human being and she's going to take a lot of looking after!"

"Look, I don't have all the details worked out right now but I'm gonna sort everything. I'm bound to get some sort of money from the government and the rest I'll have to earn by getting a permanent job."

"You're going to drop out of school?! But what about your future?"

"Berry, I'm a single dad still in my teens. What sort of future do you see me having?"

"But that's my point!" she said earnestly. "Do you want to be stuck in Lima for the rest of your life grilling burgers or running items through a checkout? You're talented at football and singing so you've got a fair chance of getting a scholarship to a college somewhere. Not to mention that you're giving up the rest of your life to look after this child when it might have a happier one with a different family." He glared at her but she carried on regardless. "Her adoptive parents will probably be able to afford nicer clothes, more presents and a bigger house for her. She won't get lonely when her Dad is working all hours to try and afford to send her to nursery."

"You can't know how her life is going to turn out, Berry. She might end up with complete freaks that treat her like shit. If she's with me at least I know she's gonna be safe."

"And you think your mom's going to be happy about you bringing home a newborn baby who cries all night and pukes everywhere?"

"You don't know anything about my life, Berry. I know this isn't going to be easy but I'm going to do all I can to do right by daughter."

"But what if doing right by her is letting her go? Maybe you're being selfish by keeping her. You're thinking of what you want and not what your daughter _needs_." Rachel was very glad that Puck was holding his daughter and thus his hands were occupied because judging by the death glare he was currently sending her way she was lucky to be alive.

"I _know_ what's best for my daughter, Berry," his voice was low and dangerous, causing Rachel to gulp. "So shove your busybody nose out of my life. No, scratch that, out of _our_ lives."

"Ok, look, you're obviously on some sort of 'new father high' that's made you take leave of your senses. It is thanks to my actions that this situation has come about; if I hadn't phoned Mr and Mrs Fabray then the adoption would definitely be going ahead. So like it or not, Noah, I have had a major contribution to this little girl's short life and I intend to do what's best for her and I believe that comes down to her being adopted. I have the adoption worker's number on my cell. I'll try and get her to stall this adoption procedure for a couple of weeks. We're nearly through spring break now so that'll give you some time to see how you're going to manage this around school because you're _not_ dropping out, I won't let you."

Puck fully turned round to face her and raised an eyebrow. "You're not the boss of me, Berry. If I want to be a high school drop out then I will be."

She sniffed and thought, 'we'll see about that!' before saying, "Ok, so if in a couple of weeks you haven't managed to convince me that you're capable of providing for your daughter then I'll make sure that she's adopted."

"Oh, yeah? And just how the hell are you gonna manage that?" he sneered at her.

"I'll call Quinn." Rachel actually saw some of the colour drain from his face. "And when she hears that her daughter's being raised by _you_ she'll come back and force the adoption through."

"You wouldn't," he challenged.

"Don't think that I wouldn't do the best thing for your daughter, Noah. I care about her too."

He went very quiet and turned his back on her again. She came up and placed a hand on his arm. "Look, I'll do all I can to help you get started."

"I don't need your help, Berry," he said, shrugging her arm off. "Me and little Miss Puckerman are going to be just fine without you." Rachel could see this ridiculous adoring look on Puck's face as he looked at his daughter and she was sure that if he knew it was gracing his features he wouldn't be letting her see it.

"Really? Do you know the first thing about taking care of a newborn baby?" she asked.

"Hey, I was eight when my sister was born and my douche of a father left pretty soon after that so, yeah, I have a vague idea of what this involves. Thanks for your concern," he added sarcastically.

"Ok, so you're not going to be completely useless then. But do you have any of the things she needs like a crib, clothes, food, diapers? How are you even going to get her back to your house? You can't drive your truck with her on your lap!" He didn't make any response to her words. "Are you even listening to me?" she snapped.

"I'm trying very hard not to," he replied, not taking his eyes off of his daughter.

"Noah! I'm trying to give you some assistance here!"

"And I've already told you, Berry that we don't require your _assistance_."

Rachel was starting to get very annoyed with the obstinate young man in front of her. But it seemed that he'd had enough of her too.

"I think you've prattled on enough, Berry," he said, before looking pointedly at the door. "So why don't you go home and think of somebody else to annoy."

Rachel stamped her foot and put her hands on her hips. She knew it made her look like a five year old but she didn't care. He hadn't said anything particularly hurtful but she felt like crying. She blamed all this on her severe lack of sleep.

"Do not think for a moment that I'm just going to walk away and leave you caring for this baby based on a decision you made a couple of minutes ago. I cannot in good faith allow you to mistreat this baby in any way."

"You think I can't look after my own kid?" he growled at her and Rachel took a step back, alarmed. "You honestly think I'd let her get hurt or intentionally put her in danger?"

"No, that's not-" she squeaked before he cut her off.

"I know you don't have the highest opinion of me but I thought you knew me better than that. But, you know what, Berry? I don't have to prove myself to you or to anybody. I can do this on my own."

Rachel was more than slightly unnerved by this side of Puck. She didn't think she could remember him ever being so passionate about anything.

"Now get out, Berry, before I call security on you."

"You'll what?!"

"Get security to force you out. You have no right to be here whilst _I_ am this girl's father. If I don't want you here then I can have you removed." He smirked at her and Rachel gave him a frosty look back.

"I can call Quinn any time I want and have her taken away from you." She pointed out.

"I don't care," he replied, pronouncing every word deliberately.

"Fine, but when you get over this stubborn, proving-yourself mind-set that's currently occupying your head and you realise what a nightmare you've gotten yourself into _on your own, _you'll be happy to hear that I'm still willing to help you when you call."

She could sense his glower as she collected up her coat and purse and stalked out of the door.

'_Ugh! _Stupid obdurate boy!' Rachel thought as she stomped out of the hospital and over to her car. Couldn't he see that she was just trying to help him? She was still slightly in shock over the events of the last hour or so. Yet, she almost laughed to herself at the ludicrous notion that Noah Puckerman wanted to raise a child on his own. Because _really_, Noah 'Puck' Puckerman having the maturity and perseverance to commit to someone for the rest of his life? She didn't think so. Until only a few months ago he was the High School bully who would throw people into dumpsters, lock them in toilets or throw slushies in faces. Hardly a fitting role model for a young girl!

However, Rachel _was_ willing to concede that he had appeared to turn over a new leaf since partaking in Glee. He definitely wasn't a saint but he was no longer the devil incarnate either.

She sat down behind the wheel of her car and rested her head against it for a few moments. She groaned as she realized she had to call the adoption worker to inform her of the change in proceedings since Quinn decided to uproot to who-knew-where.

The subsequent conversation was not the happiest that Rachel had ever had but she knew that it was better than the one the adoption worker would have to have with the prospective parents. As Rachel hung up the phone an overwhelming sense of guilt that she'd ruined 'baby girl Fabray's' life filled her and couple of tears rolled down her cheeks.

She rested her head against the steering wheel again and closed her eyes to stem the flow of tears. She tried to open her eyes again but they were too heavy. Her whole body was telling her to just rest here for a little while and she supposed it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a quick nap to refresh. It wouldn't be wise to drive when she was so tired after all.

Her mind had just gone mercifully blank when the familiar jingle of her ringtone went off. She groaned and reached for the cell in her pocket and opened it without even opening her eyes.

"Hello?" she mumbled.

"If you mutter even _one_ smug word then I will reject all future offers of help even if it meant I'd have to go without food or housing and then I'd _die_ and then _you'd_ have to live with that on your conscience for the rest of your life."

"Huh?" Quite possibly her most inelegant moment. _Ever._

"I need your help, Berry."

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading guys. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Thanks to those who answered my question about Quinn's due date – it just bothered me that I wasn't entirely sure what the time frame was for this story.

I have a few further questions because you guys have been so great so far;

1. When exactly would regionals be taking place? i.e. what month? Should they have already taken place by this point? Having no Glee competition experience I have a limited knowledge on what's involved.

2. What year in High School is everyone supposed to be in? This one _really_ bugs me for some reason. We know Rachel's a sophomore but I don't think they state what anyone else is do they? I've made Quinn a sophomore too but that could be completely wrong for all I know.

3. Last thing is how many periods are there in a typical high school day and how many free periods do students get a week?

If you can answer any of those questions I would be soooooo grateful because I hate making stuff up on the spot. I like to make things as accurate as possible.

The number of reviews went down last chapter so if you could take the time to review I would really appreciate it!

Until next time,

Lil Drop of Magic


	4. Unfortunately NonSexy Surprises

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world

A/N: Many thanks to those who reviewed and answered my questions, you guys are the best.

Here is the next chapter for you. It's so much longer than I thought it would be!

Chapter 4: (Unfortunately Non-Sexy) Surprises

* * *

"I need your help, Berry."

Those five words had possibly combined to become one of the lowest moments in Puck's life. Noah Puckerman did _not_ need help from Rachel Berry, period. However, at this specific moment in time he needed a very small favour from someone to get him started off. Once this was done then he truly wouldn't be asking anyone for help.

He'd wracked his brain for who he could turn to. Any adults he knew were instantly out because they'd just lecture him about making a mistake (which he _wasn't_) like Berry had done. He'd thought of the people at school next and instantly ruled out half of the student population; no dude was coming near his daughter for the next eighteen years (or longer) if he had anything to say about it. The only girls he knew of at school were either the ones who he'd slept with (who were also instantly out in case they decided to take some sort of crazy-assed revenge on his daughter) or the ones in Glee. Santana was out because she was from the previously mentioned category and probably the biggest bitch he knew and any contact she had with his daughter may never be undone. Puck wouldn't trust Brittany with one of those stupid _flour_ babies Berry had mentioned let alone his own flesh and blood. Kurt was out because despite his protestations he _was_ a dude and therefore not allowed near his daughter (sexual preference was not considered an important factor on the blanket ban on dudes), Mercedes was another one who'd give him a lecture and he knew that Tina had been ill with a nasty flu virus the last couple of weeks and he did _not_ want his daughter to come into contact with sick people.

That left only one other person. _Rachel _fucking _Berry__._

Why did the universe have to plot against him like this? How could he possibly stoop so low as to ask for her help when he'd made such a big point of shunning it less than an hour ago? No, he couldn't do it.

He thought of his daughter and gritted his teeth. Yeah, he loved the girl but did she really have to ask this of him?

He decided that he'd have to do it quickly to get the torture over with. Threats may also be necessary to make sure that she didn't get a chance to gloat.

And now here she was, back in the room that he'd effectively chucked her out of barely half an hour earlier. She didn't look at her best. In fact, she looked like she might fall asleep at any moment. That wasn't good.

"Snap out of it Berry. You said you wanted to help so make yourself useful."

"You haven't told me what I'm supposed to be doing yet," she pointed out before holding a hand in front of her mouth to cover a yawn.

"Basically, Berry, your role is just to be a pair of arms. I need you to hold my girl while I drive to some baby store and then I can buy some stuff like a stroller and a car seat. That's all I need."

Berry frowned at him but he wasn't sure why. His explanation had been very simple hadn't it? Had someone given her a brain transplant in the last 30 minutes? He highly doubted it and he considered it a shame seeing as this Rachel Berry seemed quieter and less bossy.

"Can you afford all those items? They don't exactly come cheap and you're going to need so many things."

Puck grimaced. He was kinda low on money at the moment. Maybe there was somewhere that sold second hand baby stuff. He didn't want to give his daughter some shit, stained, broken baby stuff but right now maybe that was all he could afford. "I'll manage," he replied, coolly.

She rolled her eyes at him. Or at least she started to but then paused mid-roll. It was more than a little bit disturbing.

"I have a much more cost-effective idea," she said, suddenly beaming.

That should've been good news; he needed to save some money, but somehow he wasn't sure he'd like what she was going to suggest.

* * *

"You wanna tell me why I'm actually voluntarily going into school during spring fucking break? The point of spring break for _normal_ teenagers, Berry, is to get as far away from school as possible" He glanced over at her to check that she was still holding his daughter ok. The hospital hadn't been too happy to release his girl to him but seeing as she was perfectly healthy and he had explained that circumstances regarding the adoption had changed, they couldn't really refuse him. Instead, they'd given him loads of advice about how to take care of her and what to expect over the next few days. They had also leant him the clothes and blanket that she was now swathed in, while tucked up in Berry's arms.

"Just wait and see, Noah" she trilled and flashed him an annoying smile. She had perked up and he was beginning to wish that he was sitting next to the half dead Rachel Berry from earlier on.

He pulled into the deserted car lot then turned to face her with a quizzical expression. "So, I take it you want to actually get into the school because I can't see anything that's going to help us in the lot."

"You're correct, Noah."

"And we're supposed to get in how, exactly? You got a magic wand on you, Harry?"

She stared at him in confusion for a moment before realising to what he was referring. Puck made a mental note that Harry Potter references were obviously _not_ cool.

"Not exactly," she replied. "When Coach Sylvester gave me control of the _Cabaret_ production earlier in the year she gave me a key in case I needed to come in and do some extra work and when I quit she forgot to take it back."

"You have a key to the school?" he asked, trying to work out what she'd told him.

"Yes!" she said exasperated, "That's what I just said!"

"So, let me get this straight; for the last few months you've had the means to enter the school at anytime you want to and you _haven't_ used it to play pranks, vandalize classrooms and cause general mayhem?"

She gave him a very disapproving look. "Of course I haven't. And, for someone who's supposed to be trying to prove to me that you'll make a responsible parent for your daughter – you're not doing a very good job."

_Shit._ He'd forgotten about her promise to wrest his daughter away from him if she thought he wasn't going to make a good enough parent. The way she thought she could just dictate how his life was going to play out made his blood boil in anger. Just what was her fucking problem? She had _no_ right to have a say in deciding who brought up his daughter; that choice was between him and Quinn and since Quinn had fucked off somewhere that meant it was his decision alone. Not priggish, psycho Rachel Berry's.

But she had his balls in a guillotine over the Quinn factor. If Quinn found out he was raising their baby he was sure she'd come back and mess everything up. He'd try and pay for lawyers and shit if that happened but Quinn's parents could probably afford better ones and then he'd lose. He didn't want to lose his daughter.

Unfortunately, this meant that he needed to prove to Rachel Berry that he'd be a good Dad. Well, if she wanted to see good parenting then Puck was gonna make sure he was the best fucking Dad on the planet. It might just take a little getting used to…

He mumbled something about needing time to adjust and much to his relief she let it go.

"Just look in my purse for the silver key with a brown chain." She instructed as she was still holding the baby. He duly obliged and soon found what he was looking for.

"Do you wanna keep hold of her or should I take her?" he enquired.

"It'll be better if you have her because I enter to enter the code so that the alarm doesn't go off. I'll hand her to you when you're out of the vehicle."

Puck did as she said and followed her to the doors of the school, still clueless about what exactly they were doing there. Berry unlocked the door before hurrying over to a little electronic box that he'd never noticed before to switch off the alarm. He tried to see what numbers she was pressing but she was in the way of his view. _Damn_. That information could've come in use at some point despite Berry's annoying warnings of responsible parenting. He only had to be good for two weeks and then he could have the freedom to rule his own life again.

"You wanna tell me what we're doing yet?" he asked her. He wasn't the biggest fan of surprises (except the kinky kind, of course).

"Just follow me," she instructed and he was left to trail after her like some fucking slave or puppy dog.

She led him to the part of the school that he recognised as the drama department. She went down a flight of stairs and opened a door into a very large room that was crammed with all sorts of crap.

"This is the props room." She informed him, somewhat needlessly. Even he could work out what the room was used for. "McKinley likes to keep all the props from their productions in case they can be used again." She started to work her way through everything and Puck struggled to keep up as he was keeping a close eye on where he was stepping so he wouldn't trip over.

"When I was working on _Cabaret_," her voice continued from somewhere ahead of him, (he'd lost sight of her), "I was down here seeing if there was anything that could be featured and I remember coming across these."

He walked around a big wooden cabinet and finally caught up to where she was. He followed her pointed finger and felt his jaw drop. He lifted it again straightaway because looking like he was trying to catch flies was not even in the smallest way _badass._ However, he was surprised at the amount of baby stuff heaped into one corner of the props room. There were a couple of cribs, a few strollers of different sizes, a mobile, some blankets, baby clothes and even a car seat.

"I guess they've done a few productions that have had babies in them," Berry said simply before turning to face him. "So what do you think?"

He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I presumed that despite your protestations you don't have the money to buy a lot of the stuff she needs and, if you come to your senses and realise that you don't have the resources to look after the baby, you'd have spent all that money for no reason."

"Hang on," he cut in; he thought he knew where she was heading with this now. "You want me to steal this stuff from the school?"

"_Borrow," _she stressed. "You'll be giving it back in two weeks anyway."

Puck started to laugh and then stopped in case he woke up his daughter. "Berry, you're fucking twisted. You have a go at _me_ for making a joke about breaking into the school and sticking glue to a couple of teachers' chairs and now here you are telling me to _steal._ That's messed up." He was pleased to see that she flushed slightly at his words and bit her lip (which didn't look at all sexy…honest).

"I know that this is not a completely morally correct idea but I think this is the best course of action for you to take care of your daughter. No one is using these things and you can't afford that much right now. This stuff is only the beginning of what she needs; you still need to get bottles, diapers, baby formula –"

"I'm not saying I won't take any of this stuff." He said before she reminded him of how much his girl was costing him. "I just think you need to admit that you're not as innocent as you make out."

"I'm not averse to bending the rules to help my friends." She admitted.

"We're not friends, Berry." She looked slightly upset at his words and he would have felt a little bit bad about that if it weren't for the fact that she was trying to run his life at the moment.

She turned away from him and started to inspect the baby items. "They're a tiny little bit dusty but seem to be in good condition."

He followed her over to one of the cribs that looked like something that Moses had been put in, in that story but it was all white and frilly and _girly. _But this was ok, Puck realised, because his daughter _was_ a girl.

Berry had dusted it off a little and put some blankets in there. He placed his daughter in carefully and nearly freaked out when the basket moved slightly before he realised it was on some sort of rocker. Cool. No, wait, there was nothing _cool_ about frilly rocking baby beds.

He left his daughter there and looked around at the other items. "Are you sure no one's going to miss this stuff?" he asked Berry, who was looking at some baby clothes.

"It's highly unlikely. Since Mr. Ryerson's no longer running it, the drama department has sort of ceased performing."

He nodded. He knew he shouldn't really be taking this stuff but Berry had been right about the money thing. He wouldn't have been able to afford half of this stuff right now. His pool business was sure to pick up again as summer approached and then he'd be able to buy this stuff for real.

"Shouldn't we worry about security cameras?" he asked. The little black cameras were stationed all over school.

"I can take care of those. Daddy works in electronics."

Puck raised an eyebrow. In the last few minutes this girl had broken into school, decided to steal school property and was now going to hijack the security system. Rachel Berry just kept surprising him just not always in a good (i.e. sexy) way.

She ran off to deal with the cameras while he decided what he was going to take. She was back surprisingly quickly with a huge grin on her face.

"The cameras have been put on standby for the next twenty minutes so I hope you're ready to go." She told him.

He was. They carted the stuff over to his truck with some difficulty given the amount he'd decided to 'borrow'. Berry locked up the school while he loaded everything in. Luckily the Moses basket lifted off of the rocker and he placed his daughter in the front for Berry to hold on to.

They dropped off the stuff at Berry's house as it was on the way to the store. He noticed her pick up a key that was sitting on the side. He figured it must've been Quinn's. He heard her sniff loudly and hoped she wasn't about to cry on him. He wouldn't know how to handle that shit. To his immense relief she managed to pull herself together.

Puck drove them to _Walmart_ and they transferred his daughter carefully into the stroller. They made their way over to the baby aisles and Rachel got out her phone to access the internet.

"Ok, according to this book she'll need 3 or 4 pyjama sets, 6 to 8 t-shirts, 2 sweaters, a couple of bonnets, 4 pairs of socks or booties, a few receiving blankets, a set of baby washcloths and a load of new born diapers and baby wipes." She told him while he tried to work out how much of that stuff they already had. He threw a couple of everything into their trolley and a whole bunch of diapers.

"What else?"

"Um," she said as she scrolled through the text. "A wash tub, a diaper bin and a changing mat." They walked to another aisle and added those things as well. "Ok, she's also going to need bottles, a sterilizer and some infant formula."

They added all this too and Puck was beginning to get slightly worried at how much this was going to cost. They added another couple of things before Berry declared that she thought that would keep them going for the next two weeks.

They started to make their way over to pay when a loud and terrifying noise suddenly filled the air. Puck only just stopped himself from jumping a foot in the air because he remembered that badassess did _not_ jump at loud noises like six year old girls. It took him a moment to realise that the sound was coming from the stroller that Berry was pushing. He went over to investigate and sure enough, there was his little girl, red-faced and trying to scream the place down.

"What do we do?" Berry asked him, her voice sounding slightly panicked.

Puck shrugged. "Pick her up I suppose." He pushed their trolley to the side then bent down to pick up his daughter and encasing her in his arms.

"Maybe she's hungry," Berry suggested, "she can't be tired after being asleep this whole time. Or maybe she needs changing – I read somewhere that she might urinate as much as once an hour –"

"What were you reading up on babies for?" he tried to ask over the din of his little girl's cries without shouting. Holding her didn't seem to be making much of a difference. He realised that Berry's reading habits were not a priority right now. "Never mind, what can I do to get her to shut up?"

Rachel bit her lip in the not (ok, maybe a little) sexy way. "I think you're supposed to rock her and make shushing noises."

Puck put his badass reputation to the back of his mind for the moment as he really wanted his girl to stop screaming in his ear. He moved his arms slightly, "Shhhh, it's all right, baby, no need to cry, Daddy's here." He kept doing this for a couple of minutes but she did not stop.

"It's not working, Berry," he snapped at her and she shrugged her shoulders.

"I think it's gonna be a diaper change or a feed and there's nothing we can do about those problems until we've paid." She was wincing at his daughter's wailing and he couldn't blame her. How did something so small make such a loud fucking noise?

"Come on, then" he said and started walking to the check out again.

"Noah! Wait!" he somehow heard her voice over his daughter's cries. He turned back to Berry and saw her unsuccessfully trying to push both the stroller and the trolley at the same time. "I can't," she stated and he walked back over to her.

"Here," he transferred the still screaming baby into her arms.

"Noah, I don't feel entirely comfortable holding her," Berry told him. "Small babies make me slightly uneasy; I feel like I'm going to drop or break her."

"You held all the way from the hospital earlier," he pointed out.

"Yes, but she was asleep then. This is different."

"Then get her to go back to sleep," he said, carelessly as he easily managed to get the trolley and stroller to move together.

He checked over his shoulder to see Berry rocking her slightly and talking to her as she followed after him to a check out.

It was only as the two of them got closer that he realised that Berry wasn't talking to his daughter, but singing to her;

_Baby mine, don't you cry  
Baby mine, dry your eyes  
Rest your head close to my heart  
Never to part, baby of mine._

Little one when you play  
Don't you mind what they say  
Let those eyes sparkle and shine  
Never a tear, baby of mine.

Puck didn't think he'd ever heard her sing so softly or so beautifully. And miraculously his daughter seemed to be listening to her because she was starting to quieten down.

_From your head to your toes,  
You're so sweet, goodness knows,  
You are so precious to me,  
Cute as can be, Baby of mine._

His daughter he gone completely quiet and was staring in Berry's direction as though wondering where that sound had come from. Puck looked at her in shock – he really didn't think that his daughter was ever going to shut up.

Berry gave him the biggest smile he'd ever seen from her which really was saying something because her smile normally lit up a whole room. _Fucking hell_ that sounded girly. _Man the fuck up_, he told himself.

"Do you think she recognises my voice from when she was in the womb?" Berry asked him excitedly. It would make sense, he reasoned, seeing as his daughter had unwittingly attended a lot of Glee rehearsals and spent a lot of time in Berry's company.

"I suppose," he replied.

"It was a song from _Dumbo,_" she told him, even though he didn't ask. "My Dads used to sing it to me when I was little and upset. I was the first song I could think of to stop her from crying." She seemed extremely happy but Puck wasn't exactly sure why. So she'd got a baby to stop crying, big woop.

"Oh, what a gorgeous little baby," some random middle aged woman gushed at them as she came to stand by Rachel.

"Thanks," Puck said, not sure if that was the appropriate response.

"Wow, she looks so small. She can't be more than a week old?"

"She's not even a day old yet," Berry informed her, still beaming.

"Gosh, my dear, you're doing incredibly well to be on your feet at all, let alone walking around and shopping. Left the baby shopping a little late did you?" the woman joked and Berry flushed at her assumption.

"She…I… Er, She's not actually mine," Berry finally managed to spit out.

"Oh, I apologise, my dear." The woman said, looking embarrassed. "It's just the way you were singing to her; I suppose you must be a natural."

"Well, thank you," Berry replied, still looking rather red, while Puck rolled his eyes. They didn't really have time for Berry to receive compliments from strange women. He started to put the contents of their trolley onto the conveyor belt and Berry got the message and bid the woman farewell.

"Are you sure you've got the money to cover all of this?" Berry whispered. "Because I've got some cash in my purse if you need a hand."

"I'm fine," he snapped at her, hoping that was true.

Berry moved to place his daughter back in the stroller but she started to whimper again so they thought it best that she hold onto her for now.

The bored teenaged boy at the check out quickly scanned their items through. "That's $84.50," the pimply boy droned. Puck breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he'd taken all the money he could out of his account at the ATM before they'd come into the store. Although now he only had $26.50 left in the world…

He handed the money across and continued to pack everything into the bags. The boy gave him back his change and then he and Berry walked out of the store with his new purchases. She was very quiet which normally he would appreciate but he was beginning to realise that when Rachel Berry was quiet, it meant that she was thinking about something. And the consequences of her thinking about something never normally turned out that well for him.

And sure enough…

"Noah, if you really are low on money then I don't have any qualms about loaning some to you." She said and his grip on the handles of the trolley and stroller tightened.

"Berry, for fuck's sake will you just drop it about the money. You might not care about giving me money but my badassness does."

"You won't accept money from me because of your reputation for being a jerk?" Berry huffed, annoyed.

"Not a jerk, a badass. There's a difference."

"Not that I can see," she sniped at him. "I just didn't think you'd value your reputation over your daughter's well being."

"Ugh, Berry, stop being such a hard ass. Little Miss Puckerman is _fine_. If there ever comes a time that I need money to feed or clothe my daughter then I'll take it from anyone but that's not an issue at the moment. My badassness doesn't even come close to my concern over my daughter. Happy?"

"Yes," she replied. "For now."

Honest to God, he could really kill Rachel Berry sometimes.

He loaded the things into the truck and they made their way back to the Berry household.

"So, how are you going to tell your Mom that you've become a single parent?" she asked him and Puck winced.

"Er," he said and there was a lengthy pause as he failed to come up with anything other than that non-word.

Berry whipped her head to the side and stared at him, which felt rather scary. "Oh my stars," she breathed, "she didn't even know there was a baby, did she?"

Puck winced. _Again._ Damn it, how did she have to be so…so…what was the word? Ah, intuitive. Wow, where had that come from?

"I thought it was pointless in telling her; Quinn wasn't going to let me have anything to do with the baby and my mother would only cry and yell at me."

"Noah Puckerman!" Berry cried in what turned out to be a scarily accurate impression of his mother. "I can't believe you were just going to turn up on your mother's doorstep and tell her she was a Grandmother! No pre-warning, nothing!"

Yes, he knew it was quite bad but how was he to know that he would be bringing his daughter up after all? He didn't regret not telling his mother because he would've gotten into a shit load of trouble and he still probably would now…

"All right, Berry, chillax. I'll get her some chocolates or something to soften the blow."

Berry frowned at him. "I don't think that's quite going to work somehow."

"Well, you're a chick, what do you think I should do?"

"I slightly resent your opinion that since I am female I would be able to relate to finding out that my seventeen year old son has brought home a newborn daughter. I shouldn't have to worry about a situation such as that for many years yet."

"Berry," he moaned.

"However, I shall attempt to offer you some guidance."

"Thank you," he muttered.

"I would advise that you leave your daughter with me while you inform your Mom that she's now a grandmother. Seeing the baby straight away might be a bit of a shock."

Puck nodded, that may be a good idea.

"Tell her that the reason you didn't inform her of this child before was that you didn't want to hurt her feelings by letting her know about this grandchild that she was never going to get to keep."

"But that is the reason," he said. Well, that and not wanting to be murdered.

"Well, make it sound sincere then. Oh, and tell her that you don't plan on dropping out of school and you plan on getting a _part-time_ job to try and pay for her upkeep. You could tell her about my adoption threat if you like. She might manage to convince you to see sense," he sent her a death glare, "or not. Well you could inform her how you're planning on getting her looked after during school time – I'd like to know the answer to that one."

Puck groaned. His mother was actually going to kill him.

He pulled into the Berrys' drive and they unloaded the new stuff into her house. His daughter had started to cry again and none of Berry's singing could calm her so he decided action needed to be taken.

He grabbed the changing mat, wipes, a diaper and the diaper bin and got them all positioned in Berry's lounge before she placed his daughter down carefully. He tried to draw on past experience from when his sister still wore diapers but that was quite a few years ago.

All in all, he thought he did quite well. It had been a bit tricky getting everything in place and he'd nearly ripped the diaper from tugging it too hard but she was all changed. However, she was still crying.

Puck picked her up and the two of them looked over how to prepare her milk and make sure all her bottles were sterilized. It was simple enough.

A few minutes later Noah Puckerman was feeding his daughter for the first time. He just couldn't take his eyes off of her. Berry muttered something about getting something for herself to eat but he wasn't really paying attention.

"Noah!" Berry called sharply and he looked up in surprise. "I said did you want anything?" she asked, gesturing at the fridge.

"Oh, sure," he said, "Whatever you're having." He looked down at his daughter but she'd stopped sucking on the bottle. "Hey, Berry. She's stopped eating. Do you think she's had enough?" He showed her the bottle and she frowned.

"I don't think so. Maybe she just needs burping."

"Oh, good point." He placed the girl against his chest with her eyes just peeping over his shoulder like the nurses at the hospital had told him. He watched Berry put together a couple of tasty looking sandwiches (he'd only just realised how fucking starving he was!) as he massaged and patted his girl's back very gently. A few seconds later he heard his daughter give the tiniest little burp. He found it both funny and slightly disgusting. He kept his ministrations up and she burped a couple more times before lowering her back down so he could carry on feeding her.

Rachel placed his sandwich on a plate and put it on the counter top behind him. He was about to thank her when she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked, confused.

"Um, it seems that she's emitted a small amount of vomit on your shirt," she said when she'd finally gotten her voice under control. She was looking at his shoulder and he turned to look. Damn. She was right.

"I think maybe you'd better place a cloth over your shoulder the next time you do that," she suggested with a smile.

"Yeah, I s'pose," he mumbled, still annoyed that there was baby sick on his jacket.

"I can chuck it in with some of my things while you go and tell your Mom if you like; I need to do a load anyway."

"No thanks, I don't want my jacket to smell like chicks."

"All your clothes are going to smell of baby for the next few years," Berry pointed out.

Touché. He supposed Berry didn't exactly smell bad and he reckoned smelling girly was better then stinking of baby vomit.

"Fine, just let me finish feeding her first." It didn't take too much longer for his daughter to drain the contents and this time when he burped her he made sure he had a paper towel over his shoulder.

Berry brought the Moses basket into the kitchen so that he could lay her down to eat his sandwich.

"When are your Dads going to be home?" he asked between two massive mouthfuls of his chicken salad sandwich because the quiet between them was making him uncomfortable.

She looked at her watch. "Probably not for another few hours. They both work late on Thursdays so they can have Saturdays off."

"Cool," he muttered, for want of anything better to say.

"What about your Mom?" she enquired. "When are you going to drop the bomb on her?"

"Dinner at the Puckerman household is at 7pm sharp so it'll be sometime after that. If all goes well I should be able to swing by a little bit later to pick her up. If that's ok with you?"

Berry nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Are you done with that?" she pointed at his plate that was completely empty of any scrap of food.

"Oh yeah, thanks. It was great." She smiled at him and placed their plates in the dishwasher before going over to peer in the Moses basket.

"She's asleep," she whispered at him and grinned. "Have you thought of a name for her yet?"

Puck shook his head. "I haven't really had the time. The last few hours have been a bit insane."

"I could bring my laptop down and we could look some up if you like?"

"Sure," he agreed. He had nothing better to do right now seeing as his daughter was sleeping peacefully and his Mom wouldn't be back from work yet.

Berry bounded upstairs and Puck carefully moved his daughter into the lounge so as not to wake her. Berry sat down on the sofa and patted the seat next to her. Puck sank into the ridiculously comfy sofa and had to resist the strong pull from his eyes to close. It had been a ridiculously long day and it wasn't even dark yet. He honestly didn't know how Berry was still standing; he was pretty sure she'd had little to no sleep since Quinn had gone into labour and that had been nearly thirty-six hours ago!

Berry typed 'baby names' into a search engine and clicked the first website that came up. "So what sort of name did you want?" she asked. "This website has over fifteen thousand names and it would be a bit helpful if we could narrow the search down a little."

"A Jewish name, I guess," he supplied. "My Mom would like that."

Berry clicked a couple of times and then passed him the laptop. There were well over a hundred Jewish girls names and this was only the first page. He sighed as he started to work through them. There were names that were familiar like Danielle, Elisabeth and Isabel but there were also names that he didn't have a clue how to pronounce like Anahi, Citlali and Iliana.

He didn't want to give her a name she was embarrassed of. Noah wasn't exactly the worst name in the world but he knew that when people thought 'Noah' they jumped to floods, arks and animals going two-by-two.

He tried saying a number of different names in his head with Puckerman on the end. He also tried thinking the names angrily because if she was his daughter then she was bound to get in trouble!

He turned to ask Berry if she had a pen and paper he could borrow but when he looked at her he saw that she had practically passed out next to him. He wasn't particularly surprised.

He suddenly realised that he was staring at a sleeping Rachel Berry and quickly looked away. That was creepy behaviour. Sure, Berry was a hot Jew when she wasn't trying to control his life but Puck didn't do creepy.

He shut the laptop and got off the sofa. Somehow it felt wrong to just sit next to Berry while she was sleeping. He cast around for something to write on and found a notepad and pen by their phone. He checked he had everything he needed which was basically just his keys seeing as he left his jacket in her kitchen so she could wash it.

He scrawled her a quick note, kissed his daughter's forehead gently, whispering that he'd be back soon and left the note by Berry's head before quietly shutting the front door.

The note simply said, 'Gone home to clean the house to put my Mom in a good mood. Keep your fingers crossed.'

* * *

A/N Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'd be quite surprised if you get one as long as this in the near future because I haven't planned on it but I might surprise myself.

The song Rachel sings is 'Baby Mine' from Dumbo. This song always makes me want to cry when I watch the film; it's just too cute when he gets to see his Mama!

Oh, just one question this time. I seem to recall Finn saying in 'Sectionals' something about it being the end of the Football season. Does this mean they guys aren't going to have to go to football training anymore? I know next to nothing about American Football.

I have recently discovered how to respond to signed reviews (Yes, yes, I'm slow, I know) so I shall be responding to all signed reviews from now on J

Reviews seriously make the chapters come quicker…

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic.


	5. Talking Time

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

A/N: Continuing thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome! Again, this turned out longer than expected.

Enjoy.

Chapter 5: Talking Time

* * *

'Gone home to clean the house to put my Mom in a good mood. Keep your fingers crossed.' Rachel read as she tried to rub the sleep out of her left eye. She couldn't believe that she'd fallen asleep while Puck had been here; a hostess should always be prepared to serve her guests! And it wasn't as though the rest had made her feel any better either; her head pounded, her eyes were exceedingly heavy and her mind felt quite muddled.

She read through Puck's note again and chuckled. That boy was going to need all the luck in a leprechaun's pot of gold if he was hoping his mother wouldn't slap him into next year.

Rachel yawned and then stretched her arms high above her head before getting up to the look at the sleeping girl in the Moses basket. Rachel was not an overly maternal person and she had been completely honest when she'd told Noah that she found holding young babies uncomfortable. As a trained dancer she had good balance and poise so she knew it was unlikely that she would drop the baby but she couldn't help the nerves that settled in her stomach when she was required to hold her. Anyway, despite her lack of enthusiasm for everything baby related she couldn't deny, as she looked down at Quinn and Puck's daughter, that she was very cute. She had a few tufts of dark hair, a snub little nose and Rachel remembered her eyes being a deep greeny-brown when she'd sung to her earlier. She wondered if Puck had managed to think of a name for her yet.

She was startled from her staring at the baby by the sound of the front door opening. She turned and was surprised to see her Dads entering the room.

"Dad! Daddy! What are you doing back so early," she asked quietly, checking her watch; it wasn't even six o'clock yet.

"We thought you and Quinn –" her dark skinned Dad started saying before she shushed at him to be quiet.

"Pumpkin," her bespectacled Daddy started quietly, "why is there a Moses basket in the lounge? Where's Quinn?"

Rachel sighed. This was going to take a while to explain.

* * *

By the time his Mom had gotten in from work and picked up his sister from a friend's house on the way, Puck had managed to vacuum and dust the entire downstairs, clean the bathroom and make the kitchen immaculate. In the remaining minutes he'd had left he'd kicked some butt on Call of Duty to get him masculinity back in gear.

When she'd seen what he'd done his Mom looked at him in a way she hadn't done very much recently – proudly. "You can be a good boy when you want to, Noah," she told him, reaching up to give him a kiss on the cheek. He allowed her to, considering that she was likely to use a different part of her body to make contact with his cheek in a couple of hours; namely her fist.

He really hadn't thought about his Mom's reaction to all of this when he'd decided to raise his daughter. Don't get him wrong; if he _had_ considered his Mom's feelings he wouldn't have changed his mind about bringing her up, but he might've asked the hospital to keep her there for a little bit longer, till he'd figured things out better. He'd just wanted to get her away from the hospital before some adoption person came and took her away. He knew it was like impossible for that to happen but he wanted to claim her as his own as early as possible.

His sister distracted him from his thoughts as she entered into the room singing some teen-pop crap severely out of tune (not that he _knew_ the tune… He did not listen to Demi whats-her-name through _choice, _but bullying from his sister). Ever since she and his mother (against his most desperate wishes) had travelled to see him perform at Regionals a couple of weeks back she had not shut up. She'd cried when they'd placed second because she was so convinced that they were the best. He'd called her a silly idiot and she'd cried even more.

"Jem, seriously, remember that deal we had about your singing?" he asked her in a slightly gruffer voice than she deserved.

Jemima paused her 'singing' and gave him a nasty look. "You mean the one where if I don't sing, you don't hide my toys?" she replied.

"Yeah, that one."

"What about it?"

"Well, unless you want your favourite Barbie doll buried in the yard somewhere, I suggest you stop your terrible attempt at singing."

"Mom says she won't let you, so you're just gonna have to block your ears." Jemima grinned at him and then resumed her singing in a much louder voice.

_Damn._ He'd been outsmarted by a fucking eight-year old. He left his crazy sister and went to offer his mother some help in the kitchen.

"I'm fine, thank you, Noah," she said, a little shocked at this sudden change in attitude. "Did you have a good time at Finn's last night?"

He tried not to wince at the lie he'd told her to explain why he'd been out all night when he'd really been waiting for the birth of his daughter.

"Uh, yeah, it was cool."

She smiled at him, "That's good, sweetheart." She didn't know that he and Finn were no longer best friends since the paternity of Quinn's baby had been revealed. He missed his best friend _a lot_ and yes, he knew that sounded as though he'd grown a vagina. He was also aware that he deserved to loose Finn's friendship after sleeping with his girlfriend. He regretted his actions of that night nine months ago but he couldn't regret the outcome because then he wouldn't have his daughter.

"Why don't you watch some TV while you wait for dinner?" she suggested and he shrugged his shoulders. He had nothing better to do until after dinner when he was going to change their lives forever.

He settled on the couch and flicked through the channels while keeping an eye on the clock. He wasn't sure whether he wanted time to speed up or slow down. While he was dreading actually telling his Mom, he also couldn't wait for it to be done out of the way so he could see his daughter again.

* * *

Said daughter was still sleeping peacefully in Rachel's lounge while she explained about Quinn's leaving and Puck's decision to keep the baby. She left out the part about borrowing baby items from school; her Dads probably wouldn't approve of that bit.

"So he should be here in a couple of hours to pick her up and take her home," she finished quietly. Her Dads had been silent throughout her retelling and she wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing.

"So, Quinn's really gone?" Dad asked and Rachel nodded.

"I haven't seen or spoken to her since she left the hospital; by the time Noah and I arrived back here, all her stuff was gone." She reached for her phone. "I should really ring or text her to make sure she's ok."

"Hold on, sweetie," her Daddy reached out a hand to stop her and pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Let me get this straight, you threatened to take the baby away from this boy?"

Rachel sensed a disapproving quality to her Daddy's voice. "Yes, but only because I felt that it would be the best outcome for both the baby and Noah. He's too young to bring up a baby by himself and she'd have a much better life with her adoptive parents. I was being cruel to be kind."

"Peanut, it's not really your place to decide whether this boy can look after his daughter." Her Dad pointed out, gently.

"But it's through my actions that this situation has come about. I can't help but feel responsible for what happens to her. What if I've ruined both of their lives?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"I think you're over-reacting a little bit, sweetheart," her Daddy said, placing an arm around her shoulders. "We know that you did what you did because you care about the two of them but the truth is that you're not going to see whether this young man will be a good father in two weeks; it takes years to figure how to become a parent and even then you're still learning. This boy is going to have to grow up an awful lot, very quickly."

"He definitely needs to," she grumbled. "_a lot._"

"I think you just need to back up a little bit," her Dad supplied. "Taking care of a baby is hard work – we found it hard enough and there were two of us. If he's got any chance of seeing this through then he needs someone to believe in him. But, if this does turn out to be too much for him to handle then let him decide for himself, don't push him into it."

Rachel bit her lip and nodded. She wasn't totally convinced of their argument; she knew how stubborn Puck could be and maybe he wouldn't want to admit that he was struggling. She'd back off a little, or at least make him think that she had.

* * *

Puck waited until his mother was seated comfortably on the couch before he turned his body towards her, his heart pounding and his palms sweaty.

"Mom," he said quietly and then cleared his throat to try and again. "Mom, I need to talk to you about something."

She looked over and frowned at him, concerned. "What is it, Noah?"

"You remember at Regionals, one of the girls was pregnant?" he asked.

She thought for a moment then nodded. "Yes dear, the poor girl was nearly due from what I could see."

"Yeah, well, she had the baby this morning."

His mother smiled. "Oh, how lovely! Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A girl."

She nodded, still smiling. "And both mother and baby are well?"

"As far I know," he bit out, feeling his heart beating even faster.

"Poor girl, having a child so young." His Mom shook her head sadly and Puck took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was time to man up.

"Mom, the baby's mine." He said quickly, possibly a little too quickly. She was staring at him, her expression blank, just staring. It was starting to majorly freak him out.

"What did you just say?" she whispered. Puck's mouth had suddenly gone dry and he didn't think he could say it again.

"I'm the father of the baby," he rasped. He looked down, not wanting to meet his mother's gaze.

"You…you're…you've got," his Mom stuttered and then she stood up quickly. He looked up to see her standing over him with a pained expression on her face and he winced. "Oh, Noah," she moaned and then walked quickly out of the room.

"Mom, wait!" he called, hurrying after her into the kitchen. She started rooting through one of the cupboards and Puck blanched. "Mom, don't," he breathed as she withdrew a bottle of whiskey. He grabbed the bottle and wrenched it out of her hands. "Don't," he repeated.

His mother burst into tears and slid down to the kitchen floor. Puck placed the bottle on the side before sinking down next to her. "You idiot," she sobbed and tried to push him away from her.

"Mom, I'm sorry." He muttered. He _hated_ seeing his mother cry, especially when he was the cause of her tears. "I would've told you before but I didn't want to hurt you. Quinn wanted to give the baby up for adoption and I thought it was better if you didn't know."

She stopped crying long enough to say thickly, "You didn't want to take responsibility for your actions, is that it?"

"No, Mom –" he tried to say but was cut off.

"You're just like your father," she whispered and he felt as though she'd stabbed him in the gut.

"I'm nothing like him," Puck spat, trying to keep a hold of his anger. "I told her I'd take care of her – take care of them both, but she didn't want anything to do with me, I swear."

She made a derisive sound.

He grabbed her hand and made sure she looked at him. "Mom, I swear on Jem's life, that I did all I could to help Quinn. I paid for a load of her bills and went on craving runs when she needed them."

His mother sniffed loudly and looked away, taking her hand with her. "So why tell me now, huh? You said it'd be better if I didn't know.

"Quinn left the baby at the hospital. I'm taking responsibility for her, Mom. I'm gonna bring her up on my own."

His mother sucked in a huge breath and looked at him with wide eyes. "You what?" she gasped.

"I'm not going to sign the adoption papers. I'm going to take care of her."

Another uncomfortable pause.

"Oh, Noah, you're a bigger idiot than I thought," she hissed, pushing herself away from him.

Puck gazed at her, puzzled. "But you were just angry at me when you thought I wasn't being responsible. Now you're annoyed that I am? That doesn't make sense!" he cried. Why did women have to be so fucking confusing?

"You think the responsible thing is to try and raise a baby on your own with no income?" she nearly yelled. "Noah, you can't possibly provide for this baby and maintain attendance at school. There's not a lot I can do to help; I can barely support you and Jemima as it is and that's only because I'm working all the time."

She took a few breaths to try and calm herself while he sat in stony silence. "Things would be different if the two of you were raising her together; there'd be less of a burden on you…" She gazed at him and placed a hand on his cheek. He flinched but didn't push her away. "Sweetheart, you…_we_ can't do this. That little girl is better off being adopted."

He tensed. His own _mother_ didn't believe he could do this. Was he that much of a screw up? He shuddered as he thought of his own father. That douche had abandoned him and Jem, and Puck would never forgive him for it. How could he do the same thing to his own child?

"You're wrong," he said firmly, taking himself away from her.

"Noah," she began but he cut her off.

"No! Look, I know you think that I'm just some dumb kid that's screwed up but I'm not a kid anymore, Mom. I know that this is going to be the hardest thing – "

"No, you _don't know_! You have no idea how hard this is. Everyday you're going to wake up tired, you'll have to think about what you're going to have to go without this month, think about how you're going to make basic food last for a week. You're going to have to say no when your child wants a new toy and you won't be able to let them go to parties because you can't afford to get the other kid a present!

"_I know_, Noah because that was me. When your Dad left after Jem was born I went through the same thing. I was lucky because I had you to help me out."

"But I've got you and Jem, haven't I?" he asked, hopefully. "Mom, I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't think I could do it."

"Noah," his mother's voice was quiet and very close to breaking. The tears poured down her cheeks. "I'm not asking you to do this for me, for Jem, or for you. I'm asking you to do this for your daughter."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"No."

His mother started sobbing again and he winced. "Mom, just let me bring her home. Let me show her to you. You'll understand…"

"You think I can really go to the hospital right now?" she choked at him through her sobs.

"She's not in the hospital." He said, simply.

Her head snapped up to look at him and she stopped crying. "Where is she?"

"A friend's looking after her."

"Finn?"

"No, not Finn. Someone else from Glee; a girl. She's clever and stuff." There was an awkward pause so he decided to push on. "It'll only take a few minutes to bring her over."

"Noah, I don't think now's the best time," his mother mumbled, not meeting his eyes. "I'm not ready, this has all been a bit of a shock."

"I know, Mom. I'm sorry. What about tomorrow morning? I can bring her over and we can really talk things through, you know, after it's sunk in."

She looked at him, her hand covering her mouth. Whether or not that was to stop her from saying something she might regret, he wasn't sure. "I'll try." She whispered.

"I'd better go and ask Berry if she can keep the baby at hers overnight." He said and his mother nodded.

He walked over and kissed her on the cheek. He took a step back but she reached out and held him tightly to her. He was a little stunned at first because she hadn't held him like that in years, mostly because he hadn't wanted her to. A couple of seconds later he relaxed and hugged her back. It was comforting to have her hold him like that and he wasn't afraid to admit it (at least not in his head) because he'd had a shit day and needed a little cheering up.

They let go of each other and she stroked his cheek. "I'll be back a bit later," he said softly and left to go plead his case to Berry.

* * *

"How'd it go?" she asked, as she opened the door.

"Y'know, most people start with a simple, hello," he said as he walked into her house.

"Yes, hello, then." She said, irritably. "How did your mother take the news?"

He waited until he'd checked that his daughter was sleeping peacefully before he turned around to face her.

"Not great," he admitted. "She kind of freaked out and told me to go through with the adoption."

He saw her face battle with different emotions and was glad that she managed to end up expressing sympathy rather than smugness. "I'm sorry, Noah." She said.

"No, you're not," he shot back at her, but then shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be rude to her. "But it doesn't matter. I'm not going to listen to her; I'm keeping my daughter."

"Oh," Berry said, her brows creasing. "Ok. Well, did you want me to help you pack everything into the truck?"

"Ah, actually, Berry, I need to ask a favour of you." He wasn't sure why asking her for help didn't seem like as much of a big deal as it did a few hours ago.

She shrugged. "Sure."

"Is it ok if you look after her tonight? My Mom isn't really up to seeing her yet and there's not really anywhere else for her to go."

"Um, let me just go and ask my Dads," she said and disappeared to another part of the house. He turned back to his daughter and just watched her sleep for a couple of minutes.

He turned around when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Berry was back with her two Dads in tow. Ok, so _this_ wasn't going to be awkward.

"Noah, these are my Dads, Leroy," the tall dark skinned man stepped forward to shake Puck's hand, "and Hiram Berry." The shorter bespectacled man grasped his hand next.

"It's nice to meet you Mr and Mr Berry," he said, trying to ignore how weird that sounded

"You too, son," Leroy said. "But call us Leroy and Hiram – the Mr Berry thing gets a little confusing when there are two of us."

Puck nodded.

"My Dads say it's ok for her to stay," Berry informed him and he relaxed slightly.

"Oh, thanks," he said. "That'll really be helping me out."

"You're more than welcome to stay over as well," Hiram said. "I know it's going to be hard to leave her so soon."

Puck glanced over his shoulder at his daughter. On the one hand, it would be decidedly creepy to stay over at Berry's house. Not because of her gay Dads, but more to do with staying in the same house as Rachel. He knew he could trust Rachel to look after his daughter but her second Dad was right. He didn't want to leave her.

"Are you sure that's ok?" he asked and all three Berry's nodded.

"Of course, Noah. We can move her into the guest bedroom if you like?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great." He agreed. "I just need to let my Mom know."

"Ok, no problem. We can move her upstairs," Berry Dad number one said and her two Dads carefully carried the Moses basket and the rocker upstairs.

"Thanks, Berry." He said to her and she gave him one of those ridiculously big smiles.

"I'm glad to help, Noah."

"You're a good friend." He was acting like a girl and he knew it. But Berry had helped him an awful lot that day.

"I thought you said we weren't friends?" The hopefulness in her voice was really quite sickening.

"Yeah, well, just shut up before I change my mind."

* * *

A/N: Quite an angsty/dramatic chapter. Believe me, I totally prefer writing more fun ones but the problem with doing a semi-serious story is that you've got to include the serious bits.

Anyho, the names for Rachel's Dads were stolen from Wikipedia. Such is the case with Wikipedia, I don't actually know if they're right.

Ok, question time! You guys know that it's your favourite part of my update. What question about American culture is she going to ask next???? I'd just like to know when school breaks up for summer. Over here it's about mid-July but I don't know if it's earlier/later/the same in the US.

Next chapter hopefully won't be _quite_ as serious as this one and if everything goes according to plan you should get the baby name! I just hope you like it!!!

So feel free to review (pretty please!).

Lot of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx


	6. Being Noah Puckerman's Friend

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world

Here you go then. I found it a bit hard to write this one for some reason. Hope you enjoy…

Chapter 6: Being Noah Puckerman's Friend

* * *

At 1 am and again at 5:30 am, Rachel almost, _almost_ regretted being Noah Puckerman's friend. That little girl of his certainly had a good pair of lungs on her and she made full use of them to inform everyone in the Berry household that she was hungry.

On both occasions Rachel dragged herself out of bed and padded outside her room to help Noah. Both times he told her to go back to sleep but she hovered around in case he needed some form of assistance.

She leant on the kitchen surface and propped her head up with her hand.

"What time are you going to see your Mom?" she asked him as she tried to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes.

Puck looked up at her from where he'd been watching his daughter feeding in his arms. "She's got work from 10 this morning so I suppose if we get there about half 8 that'll give her time to get used to her grand daughter."

Rachel lifted her eyebrows slightly. She doubted that Mrs. Puckerman would accept the baby just like that but she was too tired to point that out to him. She frowned slightly at something he'd said.

"We?" she asked.

"Yeah, me and, er," he moved his arms slightly to indicate the baby.

Rachel blushed and stood up straight. "Oh, sorry, I thought you meant…" she trailed off and looked anywhere but at him. It had been foolish of her to think that he'd still want her around. He might have grudgingly admitted that they were friends but she knew that she still annoyed him.

"Whatever, Berry. You can come if you want. Actually, it might be a good idea to have a witness in case my Mom decides she wants to whack me after all," he joked and she gave him a tentative smile.

"Ok, well I also think you should inform the school that you intend to look after the baby. You'll be entitled to some sort of paternity leave, I suppose."

He perked up at that. "You mean I won't have to go to school for a few weeks? Awesome!"

"Yes, but, having time off now isn't exactly ideal because finals are not too far away and you'll be missing out on vital education."

He scoffed at her. "Berry, it's the beginning of April – finals aren't for another couple of months. I'll be fine."

She shrugged her shoulders and moved onto another subject. "Do you know how you're going to pay for her upkeep yet?"

"Give me a chance, Berry, I can't come up with a money making scheme overnight! The pool cleaning will pick up soon and there might be some _benefits_ that come with that." He finished in a cryptic tone but she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're going to have sex with those old women for money?" she asked, slightly disgusted.

"What the fuck, Berry? How'd you know about the cougars?"

"We go to _high school_, Noah. There's no such thing as a private life for us." She sniffed. "I can't believe you'd sleep with someone for money."

"If you must know," he said tightly as he moved his daughter to his shoulder and started to rub her back, "I was never paid for my extra services but if I did charge from now on, I don't think I'd really lose many customers. Those ladies love a hot, young, stud just like myself."

She rolled her eyes. "So you'd become a whore for your daughter?"

"Ouch, Berry, I think that's the nastiest word I've ever heard you use. Look, I'm not overly keen on the idea but if it keeps my daughter clothed and fed then it's an option, isn't it?"

"As a last resort," she mumbled and he nodded.

"Probably," he agreed, "but it's not as though there are a load of jobs out there at the moment, especially if I have to fit it in around school."

She said nothing. She knew that jobs were scarce in the current economic climate and she wasn't about to give him a reassuring comment that would inspire some sort of false hope.

"I'm going for a work out on the elliptical," she announced and left the room.

* * *

A few hours later saw Rachel, Puck and baby entering the Puckerman household.

"Mom, Jem, we're here!" he called out before he remembered that his daughter was asleep.

Rachel tried not to be too nosy as she looked around his home. A woman emerged from another room and she assumed this was his mother.

"Mom, this is Rachel Berry. She's in Glee with me."

His mother gave her a small smile and Rachel held out a hand for the older woman to shake. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Puckerman," she said as they shook hands.

"Yes, you too, Rachel." Mrs. Puckerman's voice was quiet and shaky and Rachel couldn't help but sense that something didn't feel quite right. She was starting to wish she hadn't come, even though she'd practically invited herself.

Puck held up the car seat his daughter was laying in. "And this is…well, you know," he finished somewhat lamely seeing as the girl didn't have a name.

"Oh," Mrs. Puckerman gulped as she glanced at the baby for a second before looking away again. "Yes, how lovely."

Rachel tried not to look surprised as it would've been rude seeing as she was a guest in someone else's house, but the way that Mrs. Puckerman spoke about the baby as though she was commenting on the drapes in someone's front room was definitely peculiar.

She sneaked a glance at Puck and saw that he was frowning slightly. Good, so it wasn't just her who thought the older woman's behaviour was strange.

"Where's Jem?" Puck asked his mother as he walked forward to take a seat on the sofa.

"Your sister is at a friend's house," his mother said as she compulsively smoothed out some imaginary creases on her shirt sleeves. "I dropped her off a few minutes ago."

Rachel hovered nervously, unsure of what to do with herself. She eventually decided to take a seat on the sofa next to Noah and perched awkwardly on the edge of her seat.

"Why'd you do that? I thought you could both meet her together."

"Well, I didn't know if it was quite the right time to tell her. Everything's just happened so quickly and I –" she stopped abruptly and cleared her throat. "Do either of you want a drink? I'm feeling quite thirsty." And she practically bolted from the room.

Once again Rachel had to try extremely hard not to be a rude guest. She bit her lip to keep from saying anything that might upset the young man next to her. There were a couple of minutes of silence.

"Um, Berry, do you have any idea what's going on?" She turned to look at him and saw confusion etched clearly all over his face.

"I don't think your Mom is taking the news quite as well as you'd hoped," she said simply but could say no more as Mrs Puckerman re-entered the room with a tray of drinks.

"Here you go kids, I got you some juice. I hope you like grape, Rachel." She handed them a glass each and then sat on another chair.

"So, Rachel, I remember you from Regionals now. You're pretty much the star of the Glee club aren't you? I have to say, your voice absolutely blew me away; how you guys didn't win is a mystery to me."

Rachel opened her mouth to respond but then closed it again as she realised she didn't know how to. Mrs. Puckerman seemed to be acting _somewhat_ normally now; her voice was steady and she didn't seem about to run out of the room again. Someone complimenting Rachel on her vocal talent was an almost ridiculously standard par for the course in her life but this wasn't a normal situation. Shouldn't Mrs. Puckerman being asking after her grand daughter?

"Well, there's always next year," Rachel eventually responded weakly.

She glanced at Puck trying to telepathically ask him what she should do. He somehow understood what she was saying (or at least she thought he did) and he shrugged his shoulders.

Rachel took a sip of her juice for lack of anything else to do. She didn't _want_ to be the one to point out the glaringly obvious fact that something was wrong here but it seemed ridiculous to just ignore it. Luckily, Puck was the one who decided he'd had enough of his mother's odd refusal to acknowledge the baby.

"So, Mom, do you want to hold her?" he asked and Rachel tensed slightly.

His mother took a deep breath and looked at the child for only the second time since they'd been there. She gave her son a strained smile. "Yes, I think that would be ok."

Puck gently lifted his daughter out of the car seat and passed her over to his mother. The older woman rocked the baby slightly and bit her lip, nervously.

"What do you think, Mom?" Puck asked her in a gentler voice than Rachel thought him possible of.

"She's beautiful," his mother whispered and Rachel felt herself relax. It seemed that Mrs. Puckerman had gotten over her few minutes of madness. Rachel couldn't really begin to understand how it would feel to discover you suddenly had a Grand daughter – not to mention all the responsibilities that came with a new arrival.

Rachel looked up at Puck's mother to see that tears were streaming down her face.

"Mom? Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

"Take her," his mother gasped and suddenly Rachel knew that things weren't going better after all.

"Mom?"

"Take her," she gasped again and Rachel jumped out of her seat to take the baby because Noah looked like he'd been rooted to the ground in shock.

"It's ok, Mrs. Puckerman," Rachel said soothingly as she transferred the baby into her arms. "It's a lot to take in."

Puck's mother sank back into her seat and completely broke down. "I'm sorry, Noah," she sobbed.

Rachel looked over at him to see that he was rubbing the back of his Mohawk in anguish. Yes, _Noah Puckerman_ was in _anguish_. She felt awful for intruding on this private family moment.

"Um, I'll just step outside for a bit," she quietly said.

As she stepped towards the front door with the baby she heard him say, "No, Mom, I'm the one who should be sorry…" She fumbled slightly with the door latch before stepping into the cool morning air.

She sat on the porch step with baby Puckerman for a while, wishing she hadn't been witness to Mrs. Puckerman's breakdown. She looked down at the baby in her arms and was glad that the little girl didn't know how much trouble she'd caused. The baby's face scrunched up as Rachel thought this and she chuckled slightly.

After a few minutes the front door opened and Noah sat down heavily next to her. He reached a hand over to his daughter and she wrapped her hand round his finger.

"How's your mom?" Rachel asked tentatively.

"A bit better. She's sorry if she freaked you out. Do you wanna come back in?"

She smiled slightly. "Sure." He helped her stand up and she walked cautiously back in to the house.

Mrs. Puckerman was wringing her hands nervously and started forwards when she saw Rachel. She started to speak but Rachel cut her off.

"It's ok, Mrs. Puckerman, _really_. There's nothing to apologise for. This is a very emotional and sensitive issue for everyone involved."

"What you must think of me," Mrs. Puckerman muttered, holding a hand to her forehead.

"Please, don't be so hard on yourself, Mrs. Puckerman. It really was quite awful of Noah to unload this onto you." She saw him glare at her from the corner of her eye but she ignored him. "If it makes the situation any easier for you then I don't mind if the baby continues to live with me for a while."

Both mother and son started to protest but she shook her head. "No, I mean it. I don't mean to sound so blunt but you're obviously not ready to attend to the baby's needs right now, Mrs. Puckerman and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that," she added on hastily because Puck was giving her a nasty look. "I think it would be better for you and her both if she moved in here when you are ready. It would be foolish to push yourself too far too soon."

Mrs. Puckerman looked like she wanted to disagree with her but everyone in that room (apart from the baby, obviously) knew that what Rachel was saying was the truth.

"Are you sure, Berry?" Puck asked her.

Rachel smiled at him. "I'm sure. Oh, and you can stay too, of course. I'm absolutely certain my dad's won't mind."

Mrs. Puckerman let out a long breath and gave Rachel a fond look. "Oh, Rachel, what did Noah ever do to deserve a friend like you?"

Rachel beamed at her.

* * *

"So," Rachel said as he started to drive them back to hers. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." he said shortly. "Not now, not ever."

"Why not?" she asked. "Most people find sharing their problems and feelings with another person comforting."

"Because I'm a fucking badass. I don't have feelings."

"Noah, since you acknowledged that we were friends, I believed that meant you were going to stop putting up this tough-guy façade."

"It's not a façade, Berry; that's just who I am and please believe me when I say I don't feel the slightest need to tell you about how I feel.

She sighed and looked out of the window. "You're such a jerk sometimes. I was only trying to help."

They were both silent for a couple of minutes before he broke it. "Look, Berry, I'm sorry if you're thinking I'm someone that I'm not but, there's not really a lot I can do about that."

She sniffed. "It's fine, Noah. Just forget about it."

Silence prevailed until they reached her house.

"So, what do you want to do now?" she asked him once they'd entered.

"Er, I dunno."

"Did you manage to come up with a name for her yesterday?"

"Not quite, there were a few I liked but I haven't picked which one yet."

"Well, we could do that then. I don't like not being able to call her by her name."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Sure."

Rachel set up her laptop and they went about looking at Jewish names on the internet, occasionally laughing at the more outlandish ones.

An hour later they had about five names picked out but Puck had yet to single one out.

"Oh, come _on_, Noah, there must be one name here that you want."

"None of them feel right, Berry."

"Ugh, let's go back to the website and keep looking then. How about Abbi?"

"Crabby Abbi? I don't think so."

"Annie?"

"Tranny-Annie."

"Roseanne?"

"_Ho-_sanne"

"Noah! For goodness sake! Do you have to do that to every word?"

"I'm just looking out for my daughter, Berry. I don't want her to get some filthy nickname when she's older."

"What about Sarah?"

"It's my Mom's name."

"So? It's nice to name children after members of your family."

"Yeah, I know, but it'd just be too confusing."

"Well what about your Grand mother's names."

"My Dad's mom was called Sharon and my Mom's mom was called Eve."

"And what do you think of those names?"

"They're all right, but…hang on. Sharon sounds a bit like 'sharing' and no dudes are sharing my daughter."

Rachel rolled her eyes and looked up Eve on the computer. "It means 'life' which I suppose makes sense seeing as Eve was the first woman. There are some other forms of Eve like Eva or Evie if you didn't want to copy the name completely."

She looked over and saw he had a thoughtful expression on his face.

He leaned over to look at the little girl who was still lying in her car seat.

"What do you think of Evie?" he asked, just as he had done for all of the other names they'd singled out. They had yet to get any response from her, which Rachel thought was hardly surprising considering she was just over a day old.

The little girl immediately starting bawling and Puck turned to her with a grin. "Evie Puckerman it is then!"

* * *

A/N Another quite depressing chapter. Sorry about that, but I hope I lifted the mood slightly at the end there. I know not all of you are gonna like the name but everyone has different tastes when it comes to names, which is good because otherwise we'd all have the same names!

Oh, and apologies if I (Well, Puck) dissed your name slightly there. I didn't mean to offend!

Um, guys! I don't think I have a question for you this time. In fact, I actually indulged in a bit of American culture by watching the Superbowl on Sunday. Well, I watched ¾ of it (I stayed up til gone 2am) I didn't get all of what was going on but hey, I wasn't expecting to!

Hopefully you'll get an update at the weekend where we should _finally_ get to see the rest of the gleeks.

Let me know if you have any opinions on the story!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	7. Glee Club Unity Card

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world

Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews and such! A special mention to Stephlorhaze who made a point about Evie's name that I totally stole and put in the story!

Hope you enjoy this slightly longer chapter!

Chapter 7: Glee Club Unity Card

* * *

Puck opened the front door to the Berry's household using the spare key that she had given him. He glanced at the lounge but couldn't see Berry or Evie. _Evie_. It still felt weird to call his daughter by an actual name. He really liked the name though; it was kinda cute. Normally, Puck pretended that the word cute didn't exist (it was not a word for a badass to use) but there were a different set of rules for where his daughter was concerned.

He also hoped that his mom would like that he'd sort of named Evie after his Gran. Maybe his mom could bond with her over it. Not only that but he also liked what Berry had said about Eve being the first woman because, after a bit of thinking, Puck realised that Evie was (and always would be) the first girl in his life. He obviously didn't share this thought with anyone else because dude, he was a fucking _stud _and studs didn't have airy-fairy thoughts like that.

His ears detected the faint sound of someone singing upstairs and he supposed he shouldn't be so surprised. This was Rachel Berry's house after all. He climbed the stairs and knocked on the door to her room. The music and singing was quite loud here and he guessed she couldn't hear him as she didn't reply. He knocked again but she still didn't say anything, so he just opened the door.

_She's in love!  
She's in love!  
Pounding heart! Ringing bells!  
Look, I think she's even wearing brand new shells!_

Rachel Berry was singing at the top of her voice with her back to him, facing Evie, who was lying in her bouncer. The little girl was awake (how could she not be with Berry being that _loud_) but she wasn't crying. Berry was doing stupid actions like pretending to ring a bell but then she indicated straight at her boobs and he raised his eyebrows. What the hell was this girl doing?

_  
She's in love!  
She's in love!  
Glory be!  
Lord above!  
Gotta be she's in love!_

"Er, Berry?" he said when there was a pause in her singing and the girl jumped and screamed in shock.

"Noah! You scared me," she scolded him. "Why didn't you knock first? I could've been naked!"

He blinked. A dozen images of her prancing around and singing in the nude flashed through his mind. Come on, he was a hot-blooded young stud and she was a hot Jew. What did you expect?

"Do you normally sing and dance naked?" he leered at her and she blushed furiously.

"Noah, I –"

"Whatever, Berry, I was only messing." He wasn't. But he didn't have the time for things to be weirder between them than they already were. "And I did knock. _Twice_. But you were too busy crooning about being in love to hear. What is this crap, anyway?" he asked pointing to the IPod that was still blaring out the cheesy song.

"It is not," she mouthed the word 'crap' and he rolled his eyes. "It's a song featured in the Broadway version of Disney's The Little Mermaid. It's part of a playlist of Broadway songs, past and present, that Quinn and I used to sing along to. I thought Evie would like to hear it seeing as she must have heard a lot of the songs whilst in the womb. This song is actually one of Quinn's favourites but I didn't really favour it too highly because it's an ensemble piece performed by Ariel's sisters and if I were to ever take part in a production of The Little Mermaid then I would expect to be playing the lead."

He suspected that she was babbling to cover her embarrassment of the 'naked singing' comment. But it was hard to tell with her; sometimes she just acted crazy with no clear motive.

"Evie isn't even three days old and you've already subjected her to a load of show tunes. Isn't that some form of child abuse?" He was only half kidding. He didn't want his daughter to grow up to be a clone of Rachel Berry. He didn't think he could put up with that shit.

"Actually, I was thinking of placing her in the media room and forcing her to watch my entire musical collection." She had that silly grin on her face that showed she was trying to make a joke. Emphasis on _trying_.

"Very funny, Berry." He dead panned. "But I think I'm going to remove my daughter from your presence just in case." He bent down, carefully removed Evie from the bouncer and started to make his way back downstairs.

"Wait!" she called as she followed him down the staircase. "How did your meeting with Principal Figgins go?"

"Figgins was only willing to grant me limited paternity leave."

"What? Why?" she asked.

He bit his lip and prepared himself for the lecture he knew he was bound to get. "I'm kinda failing."

"What?!" Berry yelled and he winced. "How is that possible? If your GPA is too low then you're not supposed to be able to participate in extra-curriculars."

"Berry, come on. You know that rule doesn't work in our school; Brittany and Finn are still part of glee and they're dumb as shit."

"Noah, that's no excuse. Your studies are vitally important to your future. I can't believe you've been neglecting them in this way."

"Look, _Mom,_ I've just had stuff on my mind. I'll do a bit of work, notch my GPA up a couple of points and it'll be fine."

"And you're going to somehow fit that around taking care of your daughter and earning money for her upkeep are you? Oh, Noah." She sounded so disappointed and it really _bugged_ him. She wasn't his mother so why should she get to judge him. And it's not as though he really cared what she thought of him. He was just worried she'd call Quinn.

"I'll work it out, Berry, don't sweat it. Figgins gave me one full week and four part time weeks of paternity. Then it's only a few weeks til Finals."

"You should've let me come with you." Berry said. "I can be very persuasive and threatening if the situation calls for it."

"I don't need you to fight my battles for me," he snapped. He walked into the lounge and sunk onto the sofa, Evie still safe in his arms. He went to put his foot up on the coffee table because he knew it'd annoy Berry but the table was covered in a mixture of snacks. He glanced around the room and saw there were a number of extra chairs in the room too.

"Berry, what's going on?" he asked over his shoulder. "Are you expecting company?"

She came into view, twisting her fingers nervously. "Yes, actually. I invited the rest of our glee club over. They still don't know that Quinn's left and I thought they had a right to know before school starts on Monday. I thought you could also introduce them to Evie. I'm sure they'd like to meet her."

He scowled at her. "And when were you planning on telling me this?"

"Um, right about now." She muttered to her shoes but then looked up at him and her eyes were big and round. "I didn't want to tell you too far in advance because you'd probably tell me not to. The people in glee are your friends and I'm sure they'd be willing to help you in any way that they can. You shouldn't push people away, Noah."

He shrugged. He supposed he didn't mind introducing his daughter to the others too much (he'd probably been a bit hasty in his earlier decision to not let any of them near his child. They weren't that bad.) He was just annoyed that Berry hadn't asked him about it first. Evie was _his_ daughter after all.

"Whatever, Berry. You can do the talking though."

She beamed at him and started chattering away about how shocked and upset she thought they would be about Quinn's departure. A few minutes later the doorbell went and Puck told her he'd wait in the kitchen while she told everyone about Quinn and the baby. He didn't want to sit through that.

* * *

Rachel opened the door to see Santana and Brittany standing there. Out of everyone who could've arrived first, she wished it had been anyone but those two. Things between them weren't as bad as they were at the beginning of the year thanks to their participation in glee and Rachel's tentative friendship with Quinn, but Rachel knew that Santana at least, didn't really like her. She wasn't so sure about Brittany because it was hard to know what the girl was thinking…ever.

"Hi Santana, hi Brittany, come on in." She stepped back to let the cheerleaders through.

"Where's Quinn?" Santana asked as they followed her into the lounge. "I've texted her a couple of times but she hasn't replied."

"Um, I will inform you of Quinn's whereabouts once everyone else has arrived." Rachel said as the other two girls took seats. "Would either of you like a drink?" They both declined and all three girls sat in awkward silence for a moment before they were saved by the doorbell. Rachel sprang up to answer it, relieved to be out of their presence.

Over the next few minutes the rest of glee club arrived at her house and her lounge was suddenly full of people eating and chatting.

Rachel made her way to the centre of the room and cleared her throat, attracting their attention. "I know some of you have been wondering where Quinn is and well, there's no easy way to say this but…she's gone guys, she's left Lima."

There was a moment of silence as this sunk in.

"Like, on vacation?" Brittany asked and Rachel shook her head sadly.

"Her parents came to see her just after she'd given birth and they offered Quinn her old life back but, somewhere else of course. I think she said something about another State but I'm not sure."

There was more silence.

"She's not coming back?" Artie asked.

"I don't think so." Rachel replied. "I'm sorry guys. I probably should have told you sooner but things happened so quickly…" she trailed off and fidgeted with the edge of her blouse.

"I can't believe she just left without saying goodbye." Mercedes said, shaking her head. "I thought we were her friends."

"She wasn't in an emotionally healthy state of mind," Rachel explained. "She felt awful about giving up the baby and just wanted to forget about everything that happened here." She glanced over at Finn, who was sitting with his head in his hands. Rachel's heart wrenched for him. She knew that Finn still harboured feelings for Quinn, just like she herself had for him. This news was probably worse for him to take than any of the others.

"Well, if that's all you wanted to say then I'll be going." Santana said as she climbed to her feet. "Come on Brittany."

"No, wait," Rachel said, motioning for Santana to sit back down. "There's something else. But, I think it might be easier if I showed you. Hang on." She darted quickly from the room and headed off to the kitchen. Puck was sitting on a stool, speaking to the child in his arms.

"What are you telling her?" Rachel asked.

"All of the things that are annoying about you." He replied without missing a beat. "Did you tell them everything?"

"Yes," she lied. She didn't know if he was joking about the 'annoying' thing or not but either way she decided to get her own back. "They're waiting for you."

"Let's get this over with then," he sighed and she followed him back to the lounge.

As they entered the room there were gasps and shocked expressions all round.

"Oh, my _Gucci,_" Kurt breathed, holding a hand against his chest.

"Can everyone else see a tiny baby in Puck's arms or am I just hallucinating again?" asked Mike.

Puck glared at Rachel. "You told me you'd told them."

"Oops, my mistake." She grinned at him. "You can add that to your list of annoying things about me."

Puck was about to respond when a figure got up and walked towards him It was Finn. Rachel saw Puck take a step backwards – he and Finn were barely on speaking terms since babygate a few months ago.

"Is that…her?" Finn asked hoarsely, pointing at the baby. "Is that Drizzle?"

Puck nodded, frowning in distaste at Finn's pet-name for his daughter.

"Her name's Evie." Puck told him tersely. Finn just stared at the little girl.

"Do you want to hold her, Finn?" Rachel asked and both boys looked at her.

"Oh, I don't think –" Finn began to back away.

"No, dude, it's ok." Puck said and walked towards him, holding his arms out slightly. "Take her."

Finn took a deep breath and nodded. Puck carefully transferred his daughter over and Rachel didn't think she'd seen anything so touching in her life. Her eyes were tearing up and everything.

"Hi, Evie," Finn said softly. "I'm Finn. You know, you're so much more normal looking than I thought you'd be. You're like a real person."

Finn looked up at Puck, who was nervously scratching at the back of his neck. "She's cuter than I thought she would be too, you know, considering you're her father."

There were a few chuckles in the room and everyone seemed to relax slightly.

"Dude, not cool," Puck said, but he was grinning.

"So what does this mean exactly?" asked Artie. "Are you just looking after her until the adoption is finalised?"

"No, I'm keeping her." Puck said. "At least I will if somebody lets me." He shot an annoyed look at Rachel but she stood her ground.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"Out of concern for the both Noah and Evie I decided to keep the option of adoption open for a little bit longer." Rachel explained but the others just looked back at her blankly.

"And that means…?" Kurt questioned.

"She's going to try and take Evie away from me if she thinks I'm not doing a good enough job of bringing her up." Puck said.

Everybody's faces turned towards Rachel in shock. "How would that even be possible?" asked Tina.

"Girl, that's not even the issue here." Mercedes said, sparing Tina a glance before focusing on Rachel again. "Honey, what makes you think it's _any_ of your business who brings up that baby?"

"My actions resulted in Quinn leaving; if I hadn't phoned her parents and asked them to come visit her, she would never have left and Evie would be with her adoptive parents now."

"But…you're not Evie's mom," Brittany stated, but in such a confused tone that it came out as more of a question.

"Well, no." Rachel conceded.

"And Puck _is_ Evie's Dad." Brittany continued, sounding slightly surer of herself. "So shouldn't the decision be up to him?"

Rachel opened her mouth to respond but closed it again, unsure what to say when everyone was staring at her so disapprovingly.

"When _Brittany_ out-smartens you in terms of logic, you know you're fighting a loosing battle, Berry." Santana sniped and Rachel crossed her arms defensively.

Over the next few minutes Rachel tried hard not to sulk as the others took turns to hold Evie. She thought it was really quite rude of them to disagree with her after she'd invited them into her home. Rachel supposed she shouldn't be too surprised that they couldn't see that her intentions were good; they were always so quick to assume the worst of her.

"So, who's going to be looking after her when you're at school?" Artie asked Puck.

"That's a good question." Puck grumbled, running his hand through his 'hawk. "I don't exactly have the funds for day care – I don't even have a job until the temperature starts to heat up a bit."

"That blows," Mike said, clapping a hand on Puck's shoulder.

"Yeah, I know. Figgins has given me a bit of paternity leave but unless I can find someone to watch Evie then I'm not even going to be able to get a part time job to get some extra cash."

"Y'know," Kurt began, "my Dad's been asking me if I want to help out in the garage recently and, of course, I turn him down every time because my skin would not respond well to that sort of exposure. I could always ask him if he'd be willing to take you on."

"Well, that'd be great but I still need to find someone to watch over Evie; I can't exactly take her to work with me, can I?" Puck pointed out.

"As long as you work outside of school hours then one of us can look after her." Rachel said, immersing herself into the conversation once more. "She's not that hard to look after."

A couple of people exchanged nervous glances and Kurt wrinkled his nose. "I don't know, Rachel. Babies aren't exactly the 'in' accessory of the moment." He said.

Puck frowned at him. "Are you comparing my daughter to a purse?"

"No," Kurt said, drawing out the word. "A _designer_ purse."

Puck glared and Rachel sensed Kurt might need a bit of an incentive to agree.

"How about you get to decide what Evie wears each day?" Rachel dangled the offer in front of him and Kurt considered for a moment.

"Fine," he relented. "But unless you've got some more fashionable outfits for her tucked away somewhere, I'm going to have to do some serious shopping."

"She's 2 days old," Puck pointed out.

"That doesn't mean she can't look fabulous!" Kurt turned to Mercedes. "Want to help me storyboard some outfits?" Mercedes agreed and they immediately started talking about what colours would suit Evie's eyes best.

"I don't mind watching her one afternoon," Brittany volunteered. "I like children."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. She wasn't sure that Brittany babysitting a newborn was a particularly safe idea.

"I'll watch with her," Santana offered. "But only because she's Quinn's baby too."

"Um, thanks," Puck said, uncertainly.

The others all agreed to offer their services and Rachel beamed at them, glad that the club had all banded together to help one of their own.

"What will you do if you can't afford day care when you're at school part time?" Rachel asked. "Figgins only gave you one whole week off."

"Shit, I dunno." Puck frowned. "Sneak her into classes?" The others laughed but something suddenly occurred to Rachel.

"When exactly do you have to be in lessons?" she asked Puck.

"In the afternoon." He replied. "I get the mornings off but have to be in for my afternoon classes. Why?"

Rachel did some quick calculations in her head and realised it could definitely work.

"We can take care of Evie." She said simply and the others stared at her.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like whatever crazy scheme you've got in your head?" asked Santana.

"Look, between the ten of us we can absolutely cover for Noah in the afternoons thanks to our free periods." She explained "Throughout the week there isn't one time when we're all in classes in the afternoon."

"How do you know our schedules?" Matt asked a little unnerved.

"As captain of glee club I felt it was my duty to be aware of where you each ought to be at any given moment during school time in case I had to contact you."

"Well that sounds a little stalkerish for my taste." Kurt commented, a delicate eyebrow raised.

"That's not going to work, Berry – you know we can't be off site during free periods." Puck pointed out.

"We won't be off site." Rachel responded as the plan cemented in her head.

"I _really_ don't think I'm going to like this," Santana sighed.

"We can use one of the side rooms in the choir room. No one _ever_ uses them – and they're sound proof, so nobody will hear Evie crying. If we just keep some essentials stored there we should easily be able to look after her while Noah is in class."

"That sounds a little crazy, Rachel," Finn remarked.

"No, it makes perfect sense. Nobody will suspect anything because it'll just look like we're doing a bit of personal glee practice. As long as nobody sees Evie enter or leave then we should be fine. Plus, there's already baby stuff in the school that we can use."

"How d'you know that?" Artie asked.

"Noah and I already borrowed some." The others exchanged shocked glances and she hurriedly explained. "It's only until he has enough money to buy his own; nobody was using them."

"So you want us to use stolen equipment to secretly babysit a newborn baby in our free periods?" Mike asked in amazement.

"It's not _stolen_." Rachel insisted. "It's not even leaving the school grounds!"

"I don't think Principal Figgins is quite going to see it that way if we get caught," Tina pointed out.

"I don't mind doing the after school babysitting but this _does_ seem to be pushing it, Rachel." Mercedes said. "Sorry, Puck."

"No, it's cool," Puck assured her before turning to look at Rachel. "It does seem a little extreme, Berry, even for you."

Rachel crossed her arms in a huff and was very close to stamping her foot. "I thought we were all supposed to help each other. All those songs we sang about being there for each other?"

"They were just songs, Berry," Santana stated.

"No they weren't," Rachel maintained. "When I sang those words I really meant them; you can all count on me to support you."

"Like about Puck bringing up Evie?" Mercedes asked, attitude in full flow.

Rachel bit her lip and glanced at Puck. He was watching her closely and she felt herself blush. "I'll completely drop all claims of responsibility I hold to Evie's upbringing if you guys agree to help out for a few weeks. It might not even take that long – Noah just needs to scrape together enough money to pay for child care. Each of you will only have to watch the baby two times a week at most. She sleeps a lot of the time too so it shouldn't detract from your studying time. And, I promise, that in the highly unlikely event that our secret babysitting is discovered, I will take complete and utter responsibility for the whole situation to save you all from punishment."

She watched them take in her words and fiddled nervously with the hem of her shirt.

"One of these days your psychotic schemes are going to go too far." Kurt said. "But you've played your 'glee club unity card' for the last time this year. I demand to see the rest of the girl's wardrobe immediately if we are going ahead with this."

Rachel smiled at him and nodded.

"I don't really do anything in my free periods so it won't hurt to watch over her." Mike contributed, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, I suppose I don't mind either," Matt agreed.

One by one they all relented until there was only Finn left.

"Only if you make her middle name Drizzle," Finn said with that goofy grin on his face.

"Fuck, no." Puck responded, smiling too.

"Ah well, it was worth a try." Finn shrugged. "I don't see why nobody likes that name."

Rachel felt so elated she wouldn't have been surprised if she'd started to float.

"Guys, this is pretty good of you." Puck said, not one to really show his emotion.

"Yeah, well, you're in our debt for the rest of your life now," Santana pointed out.

Puck groaned. "Fan–fucking–tastic."

"Er, guys, we might have a bit of a problem," Artie stated as Evie started to bawl in his lap.

"Maybe she needs a change." Tina suggested.

"Oh! Maybe it's her first defecation!" Rachel exclaimed.

"That is _so_ not something to be excited about," Kurt said, appalled.

"What are you talking about?" asked Finn.

"She might've had her first shit, Hudson," Puck explained, as he retrieved his daughter from Artie.

"Gross." Said Brittany.

"You should change her down here," Rachel suggested, "so they can see how to correctly change a diaper."

"That's a bit weird, isn't it?" asked Puck above his daughter's cries.

"Not at all. Some people learn best by seeing other people carry out the task. I'll just get the stuff." And with that she raced off to get the baby changing supplies.

"Ok," she said when she returned with the required items. "Those of you who have no experience in changing diapers, pay close attention."

Against their will the rest of the glee club watched Puck place the little girl on the changing mat.

"You know," Rachel started conversationally, "shortly after conception foetuses develop white fluffy hair all over their body. Then, during the last few weeks of pregnancy the baby sheds this hair and eats it. The hair - along with mucus, amniotic fluid, cells shed from the skin and intestine and bile - forms the babies' first poop after birth."

Puck paused in his movements and everyone stared at Rachel in horror.

"I am disturbed for _life_," Kurt cried, hiding his face in his hands.

"Why would you think it's ok for you to tell us that?" Artie asked, looking nauseous.

"Seriously, Berry. You're fucking messed up." Puck said as he continued to change his daughter.

"Ew, is it supposed to look like that?" Mike asked as Puck exposed Evie's soiled diaper. The substance was black and tar-like.

"I dunno." Puck stated. "Berry?"

"That's normal for the first bowel movement." Rachel assured him. "They'll turn orange, yellow, brown or green soon enough."

"How do you _know_ all this?" Finn asked in awe.

"I just did some research when Quinn was pregnant." Rachel explained as she crouched down next to Puck.

"She's definitely not a flour baby, huh?" Puck said to her and Rachel grinned.

* * *

A/N Ok, a couple of things I need to point out; firstly that hairy-baby thing was totally taken from a British TV show called QI. As far as I know it's completely true! Gross, I know. Another thing is that according to research I did for this chapter some babies will have their first bowel movement a lot earlier than Evie did – it's different for each baby. And, if you wanna know what a babies first poo looks like you can see pictures on Wikipedia. How lovely!

Other things- the song Rachel sings at the beginning of the chapter is 'She's in Love' from the Broadway adaption of The Little Mermaid. Don't read anything into the choice of song – it's just that my sister really likes that song.

Kudos need to go to BluEyedGrl105 for pointing out to me that Puck would be entitled to some sort of paternity leave. If she hadn't told me that then he would've got none!

Anyway, slightly bad news in that I'm not likely to be able to update for a couple of weeks because I actually have a TON of work to do that I've been putting off to write Glee fanfiction! I wish I could write this all day but I can't if I want to pass my degree and get a job!

We were kinda down on reviews last time so I hope you can make an extra effort this chapter. Who knows, we might break the big 100 mark!

Hopefully, talk to you soon!

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	8. Worst Celebration Ever

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

A/N: Yay! I'm back. Thanks for waiting so patiently! Lots of love to all my beautiful reviewers!

Chapter 8: Worst Celebration Ever

* * *

"They're here, Noah!" Berry yelled and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The doorbell ringing had kinda already signalled the arrival of his mom and sister. He closed her laptop, having been revising some mechanics stuff for when he went round Kurt's dad's garage a bit later. He wanted to look like he knew what he was doing – he _did_ know of course, but he still wanted to impress his (hopefully) future boss.

He pulled himself to his feet and walked over to the front door, arriving at the same time as Berry. She looked way too excited considering it was just his mother and sister on the other side of the door. Given the way the last meeting between the three adults had gone he was impressed that she was looking positive in the slightest way. He certainly hoped things went better this time…

Berry opened the door and Puck frowned as he saw only his sister standing on the porch. "Jem, where's Mom?" he asked but the sound of tyres squealing answered his question. Sure enough, a second later he saw his mother's car pass in front of the house. She didn't even look in their direction as she drove away.

"Mom said she had to go into work," Jemima shrugged.

"She never works on Sundays," Puck mumbled, his body going cold and he didn't think it was due to the slightly chilly weather. "And she didn't mention it last night." He had gone back home to pick up some more stuff to bring back to Berry's and whilst there he had extended the invitation that his mother and Jem come and see Evie. His sister had been very excited to find out that she was an aunt.

"Well that's what she told me," Jem replied, still standing on the front step. He saw Berry give him a sympathetic look out of the corner of his eye but he wished she wouldn't. He didn't want her feeling sorry for him.

"Hi, you're Jemima, right?" Berry asked, opening the door further and beckoning for his sister to come inside.

"Yeah, but don't call me that." She said as she stepped into the house. "Last year Millie Jacobs brought a book into school that had a duck called Jemima in it and everyone in the class kept quacking at me. It was _so_ lame. People call me Jem instead, you know, like a diamond or ruby, except you spell it with a J not a G."

Berry smiled at her and took her coat to hang it up. "Ok, Jem it is. I'm Rachel, Rachel Berry."

Puck saw his sister's eyes widen as she gaped at Berry. What the hell? "Oh my God! I thought I recognised you! You're the glee girl – the one with the amazing voice!"

Puck saw Berry try and look modest and he wrinkled his nose in disgust. He didn't want to hear about how incredible his sister thought Rachel Berry was – that would be too fucking weird for words.

"Don't you want to see Evie?" he interrupted before Jem could demand that Berry give an impromptu performance (yes, he knew what that word meant. Damn Berry and her stupid vocab).

"Oh, yeah," Jem turned to him with excited eyes. Puck smirked at how easy it was to distract little kids. "But…" Jem turned back to Rachel with a confused expression. "You're not her mom. I saw her. She was all fat and she had blonde hair."

_Shit_. Puck had hoped his mother had gone through this stuff with Jem. Obviously not.

"Evie's mother had to go away," Berry explained gently.

"She left her baby?" Jem asked in surprise. "That's not a very nice thing to do."

Puck exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Berry. Personally, he was kinda glad that Quinn had left town because otherwise he wouldn't have Evie in his life but he knew that Berry would be pissed if he told Jem that. She'd want him to treat the matter with sensitivity. She'd obviously forgotten that he didn't possess a vagina; he didn't _do_ sensitivity.

"Yeah, well, sometimes things are pretty messed up." He told his sister. There, a compromise. He was slightly annoyed to see Berry giving him another sympathetic look. Enough already! There was nothing for her to look so sad about; he was fan-fucking-tastic at the moment, thanks. Ok, so he was a single dad who was failing high school and he had a slightly depressed mom who didn't like being in the same room as her own grand daughter. But all that mattered was that he had his daughter. And he should be getting a job today so things were on the up.

"So, are you her mom now?" Jem asked Berry. Puck was surprised to see the hopefulness on his sister's face; she'd only known Rachel Berry for a minute!

"Oh, no, definitely not." Berry replied her face blushing bright red.

"Then what's she doing here? Why aren't she and Noah living at home with me and Mom?"

Puck sighed. Damn kids and their annoying questions. He tried to rack his brain for a good excuse. He didn't think telling Jem that their mom completely freaked when she saw the baby would be a good idea.

"There's not enough room!" Berry burst out suddenly and Puck raised an eyebrow. Seriously? Evie was tiny and they didn't really have that much baby crap; she could easily fit into his house.

However, anything that came out of Berry's mouth must be true and golden according to Jem because his sister didn't question that pretty shit lie at all.

"Ok," Jem said simply. "So where is she?"

The three of them walked over to the lounge where Evie was sleeping peacefully. They were all silent for a while until Jem whispered, "Cool. She's really small, though." And Puck saw her give Berry this confused expression, as though she knew that there was totally room for a baby back at their home. He expected Jem to call Berry on her lie because if Jem thought he was lying to her then she'd be onto him like a fat kid at a buffet. She didn't say anything to Berry though and he found this mildly annoying.

After another minute of quiet Jem turned to him and said, "She doesn't really do much, does she?"

"She's asleep, moron," he sneered at her.

"Noah!" Berry admonished. "Don't be so rude to your sister!"

"That's ok, Rachel," Jem muttered, taking a step closer to Berry. "I'm used to it."

Berry put her arm around his sister's shoulder and gave him a very disapproving look.

"What?" he shrugged. "I'm her brother; I'm supposed to treat her that way."

Berry sniffed and turned back to Jem. "Do you want a drink?" she asked. "We've got water, orange juice, diet coke and some cranberry juice."

"Um, I'll just have a coke, thanks."

"No problem, I'll be right back."

"Yeah, I'll have a coke too, Berry." Puck called after her as she moved towards the kitchen.

"You can get your own," she shot back over her shoulder as she disappeared from view. Jem giggled and he scowled.

"Why'd you just call her Berry?" Jem asked him once she'd stopped laughing.

"It's her name."

"No, her name's Rachel."

"Yeah, Rachel _Berry_, genius."

"But why don't you call her Rachel? People don't call me Puckerman."

"I just do."

"Great answer," she snarked back at him.

"Hey, don't you go mouthing at me, squirt. Just because I'm not at home at the moment doesn't mean I can't torture you," he said, grabbing her wrist and throwing her over his shoulder. She squealed and started beating her little fists against his back.

"Noah, you big idiot! Put me down!" Jem wailed uselessly as Berry came rushing back in, two cups of coke in her hands.

"Noah Puckerman you put her down this instant before…" but she paused as Evie started to bawl at being so rudely awoken. "…Evie wakes up." She finished dryly. "Now look what you've done."

"Hey, I wasn't the one screeching," Puck countered as he dumped his sister on her ass.

"Ow," Jem whinged, giving him what he assumed she thought was an evil look but in fact just made her look like she was taking a dump.

"You're such a child," Berry snapped at him as she placed the drinks carefully on coasters on the coffee table. She pulled Jem up then went to comfort Evie.

"Thank you for the drink, Rachel," Jem spoke over Evie's crying.

"That's ok," Rachel replied as she lifted the baby into her arms.

Puck moved to take the other glass but Rachel somehow managed to swat his hand away while still holding Evie securely. "That's _mine_," she hissed at him. "You know where the kitchen is if you want one." Then she turned her back on him and started singing that _Dumbo_ song to make Evie shut up.

He rolled his eyes before reaching out for her glass again but Jem snatched it out of his way, giving him a scandalised look. What the fuck? Why did these chicks hate him? He sighed and stomped off to the kitchen…stupid women ganging up on him.

When he got back Evie had pretty much settled down and Berry was putting the baby into Jem's lap, telling her how to hold her arms.

"Lift your elbow up a little so you're supporting her head." Berry said. "That's it, well done." Berry grinned up at him and he assumed he was forgiven for whatever it was he'd done wrong earlier (he really wasn't sure what it was).

"I'm just going to get my camera," Berry told him and she walked towards the staircase as he carefully sat next to his sister on the couch.

"So, what do you think?" he asked before taking a sip from his glass.

"She's kinda awesome," Jem whispered back to him, grinning. He grinned back.

"Yeah, I know."

"She doesn't really look like you." She commented, staring at Evie intently.

"No?"

"She doesn't really look like anybody; just a baby."

"Great observation, Jem," he scoffed and she gave him a hurt look.

"Why do you always have to ruin things and say mean stuff?" She asked.

He sighed. He didn't even say anything that mean! "I'm your big brother, kiddo. Like I said to Berry, I'm supposed to be mean to you."

"But you're a daddy now. Doesn't that make you like really grown up? I thought that once you had a baby you weren't allowed to be a kid anymore."

"Nope, I'm still allowed," he smirked and ruffled her hair. She jerked her head away and frowned at him.

"Fine, but that doesn't mean I have to like you."

"Good. I don't like you either."

There was silence for a moment as Jem stared at Evie. "I miss you," she whispered so quietly that he thought he'd imagined it.

"What? No you don't. You're always saying you wish I'd move to the North Pole or somewhere really far away." He pointed out.

"Yeah, but I only said that when you were annoying me. I didn't really mean it." She spoke in a quiet voice and it was making him feel uncomfortable. He didn't usually share 'moments' with his sister. They just annoyed, teased and made fun of each other. There were very few occasions where they'd had a proper conversation – this was his _baby_ sister after all. But seeing Evie in her arms made him realise that Jem wasn't really a baby anymore.

"When are you coming home?" she asked him. "Mom's acting really weird and don't tell me she isn't because she _totally_ is."

He sighed again (he seemed to be doing an awful lot of that lately). "She's just a bit surprised about Evie, that's all. She'll be back to normal soon enough and me and Evie'll be home too and when Evie's crying in the middle of the night you'll wish that we were both still staying here." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead and Berry just had to choose that fucking moment to come back downstairs, didn't she?

"Oh," she breathed, holding the camera against her chest and posting a disgustingly sappy expression on her face. Puck could swear he could see fucking tears in her eyes. _Chicks_.

He spent the next few minutes being incredibly bored as Berry took multiple pictures of his daughter and sister. Eventually he got bullied into having a picture taken of himself with Evie. He was a stud and the camera has always loved him so he didn't mind too much.

Over the next hour Jem helped them to feed and change Evie with minimal sparring between everyone involved. Puck was convinced that Jem thought Berry was some sort of god on Earth and he couldn't understand it because there was no way that he could possibly describe Rachel Berry as being 'cool'; she was just some crazy-assed singing chick who spoke too much and dressed like a doll.

"Um, Jem, did Mom say what time she'd be picking you up?" Puck asked a while later as they ate some lunch that Berry had made for them.

"Nope," she replied, shaking her head.

Puck looked at his watch and saw he was going to have to leave soon to meet Burt Hummel. Berry obviously knew what he was thinking because she told him that she didn't mind watching over Jem while he was away. He asked his sister if she minded but in fact, Jem looked like she couldn't wait for him to leave so she could spend some quality time with Berry without him spoiling things. He pushed Jem off of her seat as he left, stating that he shouldn't be out for too long.

The meeting at Burt Hummel's garage started off rather awkwardly. Puck wasn't sure whether Burt knew that he used to throw Kurt into dumpsters or not and they tentatively discussed football, his involvement in glee and Puck being a dad.

Things went better when they got down to looking at the cars in the garage. Puck was able to show Burt what he knew about fixing cars and the conversation flowed a lot more easily. Burt even gave him a few tips about looking after newborns that Puck was grateful for.

Just as the two of them had agreed his working hours and his wage, Kurt appeared with a moderately large pale pink box which he thrust into Puck's hands.

"Er, what's this?" Puck asked, confused.

"Clothes for Evie." Kurt replied. "Now, there's a strict timetable enclosed that details what she's supposed to wear on each day for the next two weeks. There's also a back up outfit in case something unsavoury happens to the first choice. I expect you to send a photo of her to me each morning so I can see what suits her better for future reference."

Puck wanted to make some comment on how weird it was that Kurt cared what his daughter was wearing and that maybe he should get a life but his dad (aka Puck's new boss) was standing right next to him.

Instead he said, "Ok, cool. I'll tell Berry. But, you know I can't actually pay –"

Kurt waved him off. "It's fine, I'm sure I'll think of some way you can repay me."

Puck didn't like the sound of that but he wasn't about to turn down free clothes. He was totally skint until Burt paid him.

Puck left soon after, feeling pretty stoked that he'd managed to wrangle himself a job. When he got back to Berry's he found the downstairs abandoned but could hear singing coming from her room again. Feeling a sense of déjà vu he knocked on her door but this time she answered it, shutting the door quickly behind her.

"How did it go with Mr. Hummel?" she asked. She looked kinda excited and was really smiley. It unnerved him.

"Er, good. I start work tomorrow." He would've explained further but she squealed and jumped up and down a little. He could've sworn she was going to hug him but, thank fuck, she didn't and he was relieved because he didn't really do hugging. (Yes, he had hugged her when he quit football for glee but that was only because he was trying to get into her pants. Epic fail.)

"Oh, Noah, that's fantastic!" she exclaimed like he'd managed to secure New Directions a guaranteed spot at Nationals and not picked up a part time job. "I'm very proud of you."

Normally, accepting compliments was no big deal (I mean, you have seen him, haven't you?) but there was something different about when Rachel Berry complimented him. Although she talked _a lot_, she usually thought about what she said and didn't give out a compliment if you didn't deserve it. The fact that she seemed so impressed that he'd been able to get a small part-time job without really having to try made him wonder just what she thought of him. The phrase 'Lima loser' came to mind and he tried to push it away.

"It wasn't exactly hard, Berry; Kurt had already practically convinced his dad to give me a job."

"Yes, well, this is still something to celebrate. In fact, Jem and I have been preparing a celebration for you since you've been gone."

Puck raised an eyebrow. Was this what she was so excited about?

"We're going to put on a little show for you!"

Puck groaned. "Are you serious, Berry? I can think of hundreds of ways to celebrate my getting a job and having to sit through some God-awful little show with you and my sister singing show tunes or teeny pop that makes me want to _vomit_ is not one of them!"

"Noah," Berry reprimanded, placing her hands on her hips. "Jem is really excited about this so you're going to have to sit through this production whether you like it or not. _And_," she added threateningly, poking a finger in his chest, "you're going to look like you're enjoying it."

"The fuck I will!" he retaliated, pushing her finger away. He really wanted to rub his chest where she had tried to stab through to his ribs. That shit _hurt_. What, were her fingers made of steel or something?

"Your sister is quite confused at the moment with your mother not coping well with Evie and your absence from home. It's not going to kill you to be nice to her."

"Wanna bet," he mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"The production is due to commence at four thirty in the lounge." She informed him, ignoring his comment. "Dad and Daddy should be back from shopping by then."

He slouched off to watch some TV in another part of her house. They'd taken Evie captive in Berry's room and he'd been expressly told that he wasn't allowed to enter her room while they were rehearsing.

Four thirty eventually rolled around and he found himself sat between Berry's dads (awkward) on the couch. The coffee table had been moved away and one of her dads was holding a fucking video camera. If she tried to post this shit on MySpace he swore to himself that he was going to sit on her until she gave in.

His sister emerged downstairs looking like a craft shop had thrown up on her. She was wearing a navy blue…outfit, for want of a better word, that had glitter and sequins stuck all over it. Berry's fathers 'aw-ed' and he gathered that this was an old costume of Berry's. Her dads said Jem looked very cute but Puck thought she looked like a retard.

Berry was just dressed in her normal clothes and Puck was very relieved.

The girls performed a selection of Disney-spawned songs that he was unfortunately familiar with (eight year old sister, remember?) to some karaoke CD Berry must have had. Berry sounded note perfect as always and Jem didn't actually sound as bad as she normally did. He supposed that Berry had given her a lot of coaching in the last few hours.

A song started playing that he _absolutely did not recognise_ as coming from _Sleeping Beauty_. Berry quickly moved to change the track, stating that they needed a male voice to sing that one when Jem opened her mouth to say the last words that Puck wanted to hear.

"Noah can sing it," she suggested. "He knows the words."

"No I don't," he insisted quickly through gritted teeth.

Jem gave him a confused look. "Yeah you do. You let me watch it when you babysat me a couple of weeks ago and we sang along to it."

Puck seriously wished for that clichéd 'Earth opening up and swallowing him whole' thing because Berry looked like her fucking Birthday had come early.

"You sing along to Sleeping Beauty?" she asked and he knew that she was trying so hard not to laugh.

"_No_," he said, harshly.

"Yes, you do!" Jem disagreed and he wanted to stuff his sister under the couch.

"That's adorkable!" Berry giggled and he scowled at her. She'd just called him a dork and adorable in the same word. He wasn't sure which of those words was worse because he was not a dork and nor was he adorable; he was a total BAMF!

"Sing it with Rachel, Noah!" Jem cried running forward to grab his hand. She yanked his arm to make him stand but he didn't budge.

Berry's fathers encouraged him too and pushed his back to make him stand up. If he wasn't staying in their home, eating their food and using their hot water then he would have ran out of that house without looking back but he couldn't really turn the Mister's Berry down.

Feeling like a man heading to his own execution, he dragged his feet to stand next to Berry who was grinning at him.

"I hate you," he muttered at her, but her grin only widened. She pressed play and the song started again.

She tried to move his arms so that it would look like they were dancing like some queers on _Dancing With the Stars_ but he kept him limbs locked tightly by his side. She stamped on his foot and he gave in, he reasoned that he was already singing a Disney song in Rachel Berry's front room, with his sister and her dads watching. It couldn't really get much gayer if he let her dance with him. Berry began to sing as they turned slowly on the spot.

_I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream,  
I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam_

_Yes, I know it's true, that visions are seldom all they seem  
But if I know you, I know what you'll do  
You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream._

_But if I know you, I know what you'll do  
You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream. _

'Fuck my life' Puck thought as he took a breath and started to sing his part.

_The way you did once upon a dream. _

_I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream,  
I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam_

Berry started singing with him and Puck thanked God that it was almost over.

_Yes, I know it's true, that visions are seldom all they seem  
But if I know you, I know what you'll do  
You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream._

Jem and Berry's dads clapped loudly and Puck rolled his eyes before leaning in to whisper threateningly in her ear.

"If you post that on MySpace I will destroy _every_ version of _every_ musical that you own." He was not in the slightest way joking.

* * *

A/N I have to say, I am totally surprised how long this chapter turned out. This is not where the chapter was supposed to end (my plan for this chapter had seven bullet points to it and this covers only the first two. Weird.)

The book with a duck called Jemima in is by Beatrix Potter. It occurred to me that I don't even know if you know Beatrix Potter in North America (where most of the readers of this story are from). Do you? Her books are so cute.

The reason that the bit with Burt Hummel is so short is that I know _bleep_ all about cars. Seriously. I've never even sat behind the wheel of one (and I'm 21! Shocking, I know). So I didn't really have a clue what to write there.

Last weekend I got to sing in Canterbury Cathedral with 350 other singers as part of a choral festival. It was awesome to sing in this building that is, in parts, nearly 1000 years old and when I got to hear all the guys sing I got Goosebumps. It was SO…I wouldn't say sexy because most of the guys were kind of old but yeah, it was amazing. I know that's of NO relevance to the story whatsoever but meh, I thought you might like to know.

Next chapter shouldn't be too long. I've still got work to do but not quite as much.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx

PS Is anyone else suffering with me in giving up something for Lent? No chocolate, crisps, ice cream, sweets, non-alcoholic fizzy drinks (come on, I'm a student) or basically anything _nice_ for me until 4th April! L


	9. Rachel Doesn't Care

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

Hi everybody! Sorry you've been left waiting so long. I've had a **_crazy _**couple of weeks involving; job applications, assignments, broken laptops and interviews. But, I'm here now, so yay!

Bucketful's of love to all my reviewers/alerters/fav stories. You picked me up a lot the last few days.

Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter 9: Rachel Doesn't Care

* * *

From the moment Monday morning dawned, things in the Berry household got a hell of a lot busier. The Berrys had all got used to having a lie in after being awoken by Evie's cries so it came as somewhat of a shock to have to prepare themselves for work or school after a disturbed night's sleep.

Puck apologised constantly (he _was _staying in their house, eating their food and using their hot water so he considered it was kind of necessary) while feeding Evie as the others ate their breakfast somewhat bleary-eyed. Hiram Berry reassured Puck that they had all been getting too cosy in their previous lifestyle and a young baby was giving them a well needed shake up.

Puck had accidentally revealed to Berry (_Rachel_ Berry, just to be clear) his diabolical Math lesson attendance record ('_Two years,_ Noah! No wonder you're failing!') and she showed him one of her old textbooks, instructing him to make use of his free time and start working through it.

He honestly intended to ignore her directions (because, quite frankly, she wasn't his fucking mother) but once she and her fathers had left, it took him approximately seven minutes to realise that he was bored. He'd left his Xbox, video games and numerous DVDs at home and there was _nothing_ interesting to watch on the TV; he'd checked, three times.

He wasted a little time by getting himself and Evie properly dressed for the day (following Kurt's stupid dress guide) and he would've considered taking her for a walk if it wasn't raining outside. He read Evie a couple of baby books that Berry had dug out from somewhere (one about fish and the other about elephants). She'd told him that while Evie couldn't actually understand the words, she'd find the tone of his voice familiar and comforting. (If he didn't know that Berry was reading a book about how to raise a baby for some bedtime reading, he'd be completely freaked out about her knowledge of newborns.)

He apparently had such a soothing voice that he sent Evie to sleep, so he placed her into the Moses basket in 'their' room. And then the boredom he'd been fighting became inescapable.

He realised that not doing something simply because Berry had told him to do it was pretty childish; especially considering this was his and Evie's future he was messing with.

He worked steadily through the math work during the day, taking a nap after lunch to catch up on the sleep he'd lost because of Evie during the night. At quarter past three he drove over to McKinley and quickly handed his girl over to Berry in the parking lot before heading off to work.

He got back to the Berry's about half eight and was more than pleased to discover that she'd left him a hot dinner in the oven. She was a bloody good cook.

As he happily stuffed his face with the lasagne, she informed him of the conversation she'd had with Mr Schue about Quinn's departure. He only half listened because he was pretty exhausted after his hours at the garage but his ears pricked up when she told him that glee club weren't going to be seriously practicing for the rest of the year – only a casual meeting on Thursday afternoons to experiment with new songs.

"You don't really have to come to that rehearsal though." She said, serving him a slice of apple pie that he hadn't asked for but was definitely not going to turn down. "It would give you an extra hour to work at the garage and we both know you need all the hours you can get."

"Nah, it's all right." He said around a mouthful of pie (which was fucking delicious). "It'll be good to have something else to do. I was going kinda stir crazy today and it's only Monday."

"Did you look at the textbook?"

"I got through the first four chapters," he admitted and tried to resist the pull of the grin she flashed him. He shouldn't care that she was pleased with him but for some reason it felt good that she was strangely proud of him.

"Oh, what a good start, Noah. Your GPA will be on the rise in no time."

He shrugged and took the last bite of his dessert. "You got any more pie?"

"No, that was the last piece."

"What the hell? You and your dads ate nearly a whole freaking pie?"

"Actually Mike and Matt joined us for dinner tonight. They wanted to practice looking after Evie before next week and it didn't take much persuasion to make them stay for food."

"Oh and how were they?" he asked, taking a sip of water. "Should I be worried about my daughter's safety whenever it's their turn to watch her?"

"No, they were fine." Berry assured him. "Mike had a little trouble with the diaper at first but he got it in the end."

"Cool. Well, thanks for dinner." He mumbled. "It was good." (Huge understatement.)

"You're very welcome, Noah. Tomorrow it's Cajun chicken!"

And so the next couple of days continued in much the same way. Puck would spend most of his day doing school work (unfortunately Berry had broadened this to include other subjects, not just Math). He'd hand Evie over to her after school and a couple of glee kids would come back with her to practice before Operation Babywatch (Berry came up with the name and all it did was reminded Puck of _Baywatch_. He'd never watched the show but he'd seen pictures and, in his opinion, female lifeguards? Fuck, yeah.) started in a few days. After work he'd come back to a hot dinner and he and Berry would go over his school work, which was kinda weird considering she was a sophomore and he was a junior, but he reasoned that it just showed how behind he was in his school work.

_Things could be a lot worse_, he thought as he ate his cherry cobbler and tried to understand what Berry was telling him about trigonometry.

* * *

"So, this is Evie?" Mr. Schuester asked at the beginning of glee's Thursday afternoon practice.

Rachel had asked Mr. Schue if it was okay for Evie to be present during the next few weeks while Noah raised some money for child care and the Spanish teacher had offered no objection.

"This is her," Noah agreed, from where Rachel could see he was keeping a close eye on his daughter in Tina's arms.

"Did you want to hold her, Mr. Schue?" Tina asked, carrying the baby towards him.

"Ah, sure," he agreed, carefully taking the baby from her.

There was a rather drawn out moment of silence as everyone remembered that if Mrs. Schuester's crazy plan had gone ahead then Mr. Schue would be Evie's father. That knowledge was clearly not lost on Mr. Schue who cleared his throat loudly before saying in a somewhat uneven voice, "She's great, Puck. Congratulations."

Noah took Evie back and put her in the car seat as the practice began in earnest.

Rachel was very impressed that Evie only had to be tended to once during the session and she told her so after practice was finished.

"You really like listening to us singing, don't you?" she asked Evie as the others packed up their things. Noah had bolted as soon as practice had finished in order to get to work.

"She probably just likes listening to you," Finn said beside her and Rachel turned in surprise, not knowing he was there. "Cos, y'know she'd have heard you more than anyone else when she was in Quinn."

"Oh, well, yes, I suppose that's true." She replied, blushing. "But I'm sure she likes hearing everyone else as well."

Finn shrugged and gave her a small smile. "Maybe. Hey, listen, I know some of the others have had a bit of a practice with Evie this week and I was wondering if I could come over today. I'm not really used to dealing with babies so I could use a bit of help."

Rachel grinned as excitement flooded her stomach. "Of course, Finn. I think that would be a splendid idea. You can stay for dinner if you like, my fathers and Noah won't be home until late and Evie and I would be very glad of your company."

"Cool. I'll just swing by home to drop off my stuff and tell my mom where I'll be and then I'll come over."

Rachel told Finn that she was looking forward to it and then he helped carry Evie to her car. She bid him farewell and then dreamily took her place behind the wheel.

When she arrived home she made sure that the place looked spotless before Finn arrived.

Rachel found the next few hours highly enjoyable: she helped Finn change Evie and they both laughed over how gross it was, she taught him how to burp Evie after she'd been fed, they cooked dinner together, sang to Evie as they gave her a bath before putting her down to sleep in the living room with them. She couldn't help but imagine herself and Finn in the future with a child of their own. He was really very sweet with Evie and was incredibly careful in all his actions. She knew that if Finn _had_ ended up being Evie's Dad then he would've done a very good job.

There were an awkward couple of minutes of silence as they watched Evie sleep. Rachel didn't want Finn to go but now that Evie was asleep, there wasn't really a reason for him to stay.

"I've brought some homework with me," Finn quietly blurted out and Rachel wondered whether he'd been thinking along the same lines as she had.

"You're more than welcome to stay here and do it," Rachel whispered enthusiastically. "The two of us working together will create a positive learning environment that should be conducive to us producing good homework."

Finn blinked and then nodded. "Cool."

Rachel cleared the coffee table for them to work on and Rachel raced upstairs to grab some of her homework (and double check her appearance) before sitting down next to Finn on the sofa.

It took Rachel a few minutes to realise that doing her homework with Finn sitting a couple of inches to her right was not creating a positive learning environment and it certainly wasn't conducive to her learning; she had read the same line of her Shakespeare notes twelve times without comprehending the words (and that wasn't even because of the difficult language used in the play). Every time that Finn turned the page of his textbook his arm would brush against hers and her heart would skip a beat.

She wasn't sure if he was actually doing any work either; because all he seemed to be doing was turning the pages and, turning them at such a speed that was too fast for him to be doing any purposeful reading.

Rachel glanced at his face before looking away when he glanced at her too.

"What work are you doing?" he whispered so as not to wake Evie.

"Shakespeare," she replied shrugging. "We're studying his play _Romeo and Juliet_. Do you know anything about it?"

Finn frowned. "I've heard of it but…no, I don't really know what it's about."

Rachel tried to hide her horror that Finn hadn't heard of one of the most romantic pieces of literature _ever_ and forced a smile onto her face. "It's a tragic love story," she explained. "Romeo and Juliet are from two families who hate each other but they fall in love. It's one of Shakespeare's most famous plays."

"Oh, sounds cool." Finn replied but Rachel didn't think he sounded convinced.

She wasn't about to let him be so dismissive of one of her favourite pieces of literature and held her copy of the play towards him. "Here, you can read the synops- er, the summary if you like."

"Um, okay," he said and placed his hand on her copy; his fingers over hers. Rachel looked up into his eyes and found she suddenly couldn't breathe. She had made physical contact with Finn numerous times during glee practices and on a few other occasions too but something here felt different. She wasn't sure if it was because they'd spent the evening acting like a grown-up couple or perhaps it was the mention of _Romeo and Juliet_ but the feel of his skin on hers was sending her senses into overdrive.

He could feel it too; she could tell by the way he was staring at her, their hands still enclosed over the play. The moment seemed to last for hours but it could only be a few seconds before Rachel made up her mind. She'd address Finn's lack of Shakespearian knowledge at a later date and so let the play drop to the floor as she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Finn's.

He responded immediately, threading his hand through her hair to pull her face closer. Rachel grinned against his lips and moved her body to close the gap between them.

It struck her that she hadn't been kissed like this since she and Noah had embarked on their failed relationship nearly six months ago. She mentally kicked herself for thinking about Noah when she was _finally_ kissing Finn again and brushed the other boy from her mind.

His hand was stroking the visible skin of her thigh, leaving a trail of Goosebumps while her fingers toyed with the hair at the back of his neck. Rachel believed that she could quite honestly stay like this for days and never get bored. Actually, she couldn't be sure how long had already passed since she had first touched her lips to Finn's – her awareness of the passage of time always seemed to become flawed when she was left alone with the quarterback.

The sound of someone loudly clearing their throat snapped Rachel from her kiss induced haze and she pulled away from Finn so fast the she nearly fell off the couch. She looked around to see who had interrupted them, hoping with all her might that it wasn't her fathers.

"Noah!" she sighed in relief, seeing the Mohawked boy standing behind the couch. "I'm sorry, Finn and I didn't hear you come in."

"Clearly," Noah replied and Rachel could tell from his tone and his facial expression that something was wrong.

"Hey, man," Finn said jumping up to greet his friend. "I was just getting in a bit of practice for looking after Evie."

Noah glanced at Finn and nodded at him before moving over to check on his sleeping daughter.

Finn could obviously tell that something wasn't right because he stepped towards Rachel and placed a hand on her arm. "I think it'd be best if I took off now. I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

Rachel was a little disappointed that he was leaving but she knew it was probably for the best. "Of course, Finn, I'll see you tomorrow."

Finn made a move that looked like he was going to hug her or kiss her cheek but in the end he just nodded and smiled. "Catch you later, dude." He called to Noah but there was no response.

Once Finn had closed the front door Rachel tentatively approached Noah who was still staring at his daughter.

"You're home early," she commented lightly and he looked up at her in surprise.

"It's eight o'clock, Berry. That's not exactly early."

Now it was Rachel's turn to look surprised. It was eight o'clock! She'd been making out with Finn for a lot longer than she thought she'd had. "Oh, yes, sorry." He was staring at her and it was making her feel a little uncomfortable. "Um, Finn and I made dinner – it's in the oven if you want some."

He turned back to look at Evie. "No thanks, I'm not hungry."

"Oh, okay." Was he mad at her? She didn't like not knowing something. "Are you okay, Noah? You don't seem quite yourself tonight. Did something go wrong at the garage?"

"Nope, work was fine." Rachel waited for him to say something else but her wait was in vain so she moved onto a new topic.

"You'll be pleased to hear that you don't have to worry about Finn looking after Evie; he was a most attentive carer tonight."

"Oh, yeah? Enjoy playing house with Hudson, did you?" he snapped and Rachel jumped at his tone.

"We weren't playing _house_," she insisted although a small part of her knew that was a complete lie, at least on her side (she couldn't be sure about Finn's thoughts that evening). "I don't know why you're so upset. You didn't mind when Matt and Mike came over, or any of the others."

"Well they didn't have their tongue stuck down your throat when they were supposed to be taking care of my daughter!"

Rachel gaped at him in surprise, heat rushing to her cheeks. "Noah!" she spluttered. "While I regret that you had to walk in on Finn and I engaging in a somewhat passionate moment, I would like to stress that Evie was comfortably asleep at that moment and should she have needed our attention her cries would most certainly have interrupted us."

"You didn't hear me come in the door," Noah pointed out, "and I wasn't exactly quiet."

"We _would_ have heard Evie if she started crying, Noah." She stressed.

"Whatever, Berry. In future I'd appreciate it if you didn't use my daughter as some sort of _pawn_ to help you seduce Hudson. That's gotta be some form of child abuse."

Rachel was mad. Actually, she was beyond mad, she was furious. She picked up the nearest object (which happened to be her copy of _Romeo and Juliet_) and threw it at his head. She got some small satisfaction from seeing the corner of the play hit him to the left of his ridiculous Mohawk.

"Ow! What the _fuck_, Berry! You're an utter psychopath! That could've hit Evie!" The aforementioned little girl promptly opened her mouth and started screaming but she was completely drowned out by Rachel's yells.

"How _dare_ you tell me how to act in my own house, Noah Puckerman! Never mind the fact that I've gone out of my way to ensure the best for you and your daughter; I made sure Quinn (and therefore Evie) had a place to stay and were well looked after during the latter stages of the pregnancy; I helped Quinn through her ridiculously long labour; I stole from school; I gave you and Evie a place to stay; I helped get you a job; I convinced the other glee kids to look after Evie so you could go to lessons and I've been cooking you dinner and helping you with your school work all week! I've done _all_ that for you and your daughter and now you have the _nerve_ to insinuate that I'd use Evie for _seductional_ purposes and get angry at me for engaging in some form of a _life_ outside of you two?"

He was glaring heatedly at her. "That's not what I meant." He said through clenched teeth.

"I don't care what you meant, Noah! I don't care about _you_ anymore. I'm still going to help Evie, but you? You can do whatever the hell you like from now on."

"Fine," he spat.

She picked up her notebook and made to leave the room but he tossed her play back at her. "Here, don't forget your piece of romantic shit." He sneered.

She snatched the play off the floor and stomped up the stairs to her room, too angry to even realise that Noah knew that _Romeo and Juliet_ was a romance.

* * *

A/N: Oh, Noah…silly boy. Yes, there is some Finchel but bear in mind what it states in the summary of this story before you curse me!

I hope that was kind of worth the wait. Next chapter shouldn't be up in toooo long.

To all my fellow abstainers; Lent's nearly over! YAY! Only a few more days before we can indulge again :)

Oh, one thing I wanted to check; I was going to say Puck was 'knackered' at one point but that felt like a really _British_ thing to say. Do you use knackered in America/Canada? Or is it more like when I was in LA a couple of years ago and I told a taxi driver that the weather in the UK was 'rubbish'. She found it surreal because she'd only ever heard 'rubbish' in the movies! Hmmm, language. Gotta love it!

Your reviews seriously light up my day so I really appreciate it when people take the time to let me know what they think!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXxXx

PS I know we're all majorly excited about Glee being back on TV soon but PLEASE do not put any kind of spoiler in your reviews. In fact, I think it's best that you pretend that we're not getting any new episodes when you're reviewing my fic because you might write something that you don't _think_ is a spoiler but actually is. So, no mention of the back 9 in your reviews sil vous plait!


	10. Puck Doesn't Eat

Discalimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N Ooh, we've reached a decade of chapters. How exciting! And I'm one story alerter away from 200! Thanks guys! And for the reviews and favourites too, of course!

Oh, and thanks to those who told me that knackered is a no-no! I shall try not to put it in my fic :)

Chapter 10: Puck Doesn't Eat

* * *

"Berry, this doesn't fucking make sense!" Puck yelled over Evie's cries as the baby writhed in displeasure in the tepid bath water. "It's mathematically stupid!"

His plan to get Berry to talk to him properly again was _not_ going well.

While this whole mess with Berry _was_ his fault he still didn't really understand what had set it off. He suspected that it was a number of different things.

He'd been really tired when he'd come in from work on Thursday and despite what he'd told Berry he was fucking starving. And then he'd walked in on the two of them and things had just gone to shit.

He wasn't really surprised that those two were getting it on – they'd been dancing around each other all fucking year and now that Quinn had taken off it didn't seem like there was anything to keep them apart anymore. But the sight of them just reminded Puck of how different he was to all his friends now. They could carry on with their lives; flirt with their crush, spend all their money at the 7-11, waste a whole day playing _Halo_ and worry about beating Vocal Adrenaline at Regionals next year. None of that was really open to him anymore.

He wasn't complaining; he had Evie and that was what he'd asked for. He was just mourning the loss of his childhood, really. For years he'd been acting tough, playing the man, and now that he'd finally grown up and given himself something to be responsible for he wished he'd stayed a kid for a little bit longer.

Then Finn and Berry had been _so_ into each other that they hadn't even heard him come in; like being together was the most important thing in their nauseating little lives. There might have been a few pinpricks of jealously too because he'd made out with Berry a lot in their week of dating and he knew what a freakishly good kisser she was. Puck hadn't gotten any for a couple of weeks and, in Puckland? That was a fucking long time.

It'd taken him a few seconds to notice that Evie was in the room too and for some reason that made him even more annoyed. He was sure that Berry at least had _loved_ acting like a family with Finn. His former best friend had probably enjoyed it too; he was into all that girly shit. Playing house was fine for them and all the other gleeks; a practice for when they were older and had children of their own. But this wasn't just some game to Puck; this was his life and Evie was here, now.

He realised that Berry was probably just using this whole experience to add to her fucking acting bank for when she'd have to play a mom one day. He and Evie would just end up being some trivial reference that she'd look back on when she was all famous on Broadway and shit. The idea left a bitter taste in his mouth and all of these angry thoughts combined to leave him feeling extremely pissed off.

And a pissed off Puck doesn't really keep a rein on what words come out of his mouth.

He'd been glad that Finn had fucked off pretty quickly – they'd only just gotten on speaking terms again.

Puck had been able to sense Berry watching him closely, acting like he was a fucking scared deer. Anger; increased.

He'd turned his gaze away from Evie and been met with the sight of a very dishevelled Berry. Her hair was all messed up and her lips looked, like, twice as big as normal, all thanks to Finn fucking Hudson. Anger; increased.

The idea of eating something that the lovebirds had made together twisted his stomach in a way he'd really not liked. Anger; increased.

The look on Berry's face as she told him how fucking _perfect_ Finn was at looking after his daughter was nauseating. Anger; increased.

Berry throwing a freakin' Shakespeare play at his head? Anger; _fucking _increased.

So, to sum up? He'd been a bit annoyed at Rachel Berry that night and he'd taken it out on her a little. He hadn't even said anything that bad but she'd fucking freaked out at him like the little psycho that she was.

Ok, so that was a bit unfair. He knew that Berry wasn't a psycho; she was just a little intense sometimes and that was only because she was so passionate about things. And that wasn't really a bad thing, it's just that he wasn't used to people caring so much about anything.

He'd carried Evie carefully up to their room and spent the rest of the evening definitely _not_ sulking.

The next day he'd discovered something more annoying than having Berry yap in your ear all day; the Rachel Berry silent treatment. It didn't really make sense for him to be more frustrated that she wouldn't say anything when he'd previously been constantly wishing that she would shut the fuck up.

Basically, she was just ignoring him; pretending that the space that he was occupying was just empty air.

Her dads gave them both a weird look at breakfast but it was obvious that they didn't want to interfere with Berry when she was upset. Puck quickly got out of the kitchen because he didn't want to have to explain to her dads why Berry wasn't talking to him – the big black Berry was a bit scary.

He hadn't really been able to concentrate that well on his school work cos he wasn't sure whether Berry was going to take Evie after school like normal or whether he'd have to blow off work, which would be a really shitty thing to do in his first week.

Thankfully, Berry _was_ waiting for him at three-thirty but she didn't say a single fucking word to him as she accepted Evie and marched off to where Tina was waiting for her.

Work went by ridiculously slowly that night and he was looking forward to getting back to Berry's and having whatever the hell she laid down in front of him for dinner that night.

"Oh, Rachel said you wouldn't be eating with us tonight, Noah," one of her dads told him when he got in. He wasn't fucking impressed. Bitch.

He'd mumbled something about there being a change of plan and headed back out to get some takeout from the first place he could find.

Saturday started out pretty much the same as the day before when Berry ignored him while she got ready for her drama/dance/music classes. Puck thought of ways to get her to talk to him again while he waited for her to get back so he could go to work. However, he didn't get an opportunity because she left it until the last possible moment to get home and he had to shoot off so he wouldn't be late for work.

He finished earlier at the weekend and when he got back he discovered Jem with Evie and Rachel in the front room. They were rehearsing for another fucking show.

"Rachel says you're not allowed to be down here until we're ready to perform," Jem told him and Puck rolled his eyes that Berry couldn't tell him herself.

He rescued his daughter and took her for a walk around the area. It rained about ten minutes in and he got fucking soaked as he ran back to Berry's house to get Evie into the dry.

He _didn't_ sulk in his room again (seriously, what the fuck had happened to his life that he _wasn't_ sulking in his room on a Saturday afternoon?!) until Jem told him they were ordering pizza for dinner and she wanted to know what he wanted on the pizza. Puck told her that he didn't care as long as there were no mushrooms. Frankly, he was relieved that he was actually going to get some dinner this time.

While they waited for the pizza to arrive Jem and Berry put on their 'show' and Puck was sure that Berry had torturing him in mind because it featured songs solely from _fucking _High School Musical. But at least she didn't make him sing this time – she was probably too angry at him to want to share the spotlight with someone other than Jem.

"I think Rachel's mad at you," Jem told him when the pizza arrived loaded with mushrooms.

"No shit, Sherlock," he sighed.

And that's when he decided that he was the one who was going to have to put the effort in to fix things between them. Yes, it was his fault, but when he fell out with someone he normally just left things until they got better naturally (see Finn Hudson). Yeah, it took a lot longer but this way he got to keep his pride and didn't look like a total pussy.

But this thing with Berry? He didn't think he'd be able to wait that long; she was ridiculously stubborn. Plus, it made things incredibly awkward when they lived under the same roof and he _really_ wanted some food again.

So, now it was Sunday and the only way he'd managed to get Berry to be near him since she'd ruined the pizza was by asking her to help him bathe Evie. This was always a struggle because it turns out that his daughter really fucking hates baths and had started wailing the instant her skin had met the water.

Berry told him they should sing to her because it normally calms her down and suggested some lovey dovey song from _Rent_. He didn't really care what crap he sang, as long as it got Evie to shut up.

Berry shoved the sheet music in his lap and that's when he got annoyed because this song, _Seasons of Love_, was for eight people. And he knew his math wasn't great but there were only two of them…

"I know it's difficult but just try to do your best," Berry spoke loudly, "it's the song that Finn and I found calms her down the best."

He wasn't sure whether it was the mention of Finn or that he really wanted something to eat for dinner that night (or that he was sorry for what he said to her) but he decided to just sing the damn song and get this madness over with.

He didn't really know the song so he had no idea whether they were singing it right or not, but Evie did calm down once they got going.

"Thanks for your help," he said to her, once Evie was encased in a towel. Berry shrugged.

"That's okay," she replied and got up to move away.

"No, wait," he called, "I need to talk to you."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "There's nothing I want to hear from you."

"For fuck's sake," he snapped, "stop being so stubborn and just listen to what I have to say."

Berry tentatively sat next to him and Puck knew that this making-up thing really wasn't going well.

"I don't mean just 'thank you' for the bath," he muttered, "but, you know, for _everything_." He saw her smile and knew he was on to a win. "And I'm sorry for what I said."

He knew that what she'd yelled at him on Thursday night was true – she'd done a hell of a lot for him and Evie, without really having to be asked. She was like, some freaky nice person who actually liked doing things for other people, without asking for something in return. She was, like, the best friend you could ask for when you were in the shit.

Puck nearly groaned when she flung her arms around him and told him that he was forgiven as he'd just realised that Rachel Berry (yes, _Rachel Berry,_ the girl he'd tormented for years; the girl who loved show tunes; the girl who was in love with Finn Hudson; the girl who stuck freakin' gold stars after her name) was his fucking best friend.

* * *

A/N Ah, how sweet. Yep, sorry for its shortness but, it is quite a significant chapter seeing a Puck _finally_ appreciates what she's done for him.

Ok, the reason I wanted to get a chapter out is that I'm going to Rome on Monday (Hell, yeah!) for a few days. You probably won't get another one for a couple of weeks though…

Anyway, guys, it's Easter tomorrow! Hooray! Congrats to everyone who's kept their Lenten promise!

Please keep the reviews coming! They = love!

Ciao for now (ha, it rhymes!)

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	11. Babywatch and Bromance

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

Hi, everyone. I know it's been _forever_ since my last update. The problem is that I'm just SO busy at the moment because I'm on a work placement. I really don't have much free time at the moment which majorly sucks. The only reason I could get this chapter out was because I had days of because of bank holiday and polling day (and what a waste of time that was).

Thanks to all those who wished me a pleasant holiday in Rome – I had a lovely time and managed to avoid all that travel chaos. I wrote a one-shot as a present to you all so if you want to read it just check on my bio page.

Also, thanks to those that reviewed, alerted and favourited this story. Love and cookies go your way!

Chapter 11: Babywatch and Bromance

* * *

"_Papa Bear_, this is _Elphaba_, do you read me?" Rachel stared at the walkie-talkie in her hand, waiting for a response. "Repeat. _Papa Bear_, this _Elphaba_ do you read me?"

"_Plaid Skirt_, those _aren't_ the names that we decided on." Noah's irritated voice crackled through the small device.

"Actually _Papa Bear_ we never decided on any names because we couldn't agree."

"Will you quit calling me that; I ain't no fucking _Papa Bear_! And anyway, I don't see what was so bad with _Pucktimus Prime._" He grumbled.

"As endearing as it is that you seem to have an attachment to a childhood toy, having 'Puck' in your codename rather ruins the point of having a codename in the first place. We're supposed to be being inconspicuous."

"Okay, first of all, I only have an attachment to Megan Fox's smokin' bod – none of this childhood toy crap. Secondly, although the walkie-talkies are pretty badass they totally don't work as far as being inconspicuous goes. Nobody has walkie-talkies anymore, Berry. The teachers are gonna know something's up as soon as they see you with one. Just call me on your fucking cell before someone actually notices what the fuck you're holding and this whole thing is over before it's even started."

Rachel sighed. She knew he was probably right, even though the walkie-talkie's seemed more fitting for their current activity. But in order for them to fit in and not bring attention to themselves then they'd have to be on their cell's just like everyone else in the school.

"Fine." She muttered. "_Elphaba_ out."

She switched off the device and stowed it away just in time because Coach Sylvester rounded the corner of the corridor a second later. Rachel had it from a reliable source that the Cheerios coach had once been part of the Special Forces and if Rachel was worried of anyone finding out about them sneaking Evie into the school, then it was Sue Sylvester. Rachel tried not to shudder as she thought of what the repercussions might be if the worst should happen but the elder woman strode past in her navy blue tracksuit and Rachel let out a sigh of relief that she'd been left unmolested.

She took out her phone and quickly rang Noah while making her way towards the rear-left entrance to the school.

"So, are we allowed to use each other's real names now, or what?" Noah asked.

"You know, most people use some form of greeting when they answer a call."

"Berry, I just spoke to you like ten seconds ago. The caller ID told me it was _you_ calling. Why would I have to say hi to you?"

"It's just polite, Noah, and in answer to your question I believe it's acceptable for us to use each other's names now. I think we have successfully blended in with the rest of the high school population now that we're using the cell phones. There's no cause for anyone to be suspicious."

"Er, I'm standing at the back door with a baby in a car seat. How many other people have you seen doing that today?"

"So you're here then? Good." Rachel trilled, ignoring his question. "I'll be with you in a couple of minutes. You'll be pleased to know that the halls are pretty empty. I think our plan for Matt to start a food fight in the middle of the cafeteria has successfully distracted the majority of pupils and staff at the school."

"As totally not awesome as it is that I have to miss a food fight, can you hurry the fuck up cos I think Evie's gonna wake up any minute and she'll probably wail the fucking school down before we even get this door open."

"Noah, don't worry, things will be absolutely fine, you'll see." Rachel hoped that her voice was convincing him because she hadn't exactly convinced herself. It was only now that they were actually going through with 'Babywatch' that she had a horrible feeling that this wasn't going to work.

"Well, let's hope so, Berry, otherwise we're going to be in a fucking load of shit."

"What a lovely visual, Noah, thank you."

"S'okay, B. I know you love it when I talk dirty to you."

Rachel made an exasperated noise at the back of her throat. She did _not_ like it when he made obscene comments and swore in front of Evie, but she knew better than to try and tell Noah how to act in front of his child (she _did_ know, honestly, but sometimes it was difficult to stop from giving him…advice.). However, in the two and a half days that they had been fighting she had found that she'd missed his company. A lot. Although he purposefully said comments that he knew would annoy her and he'd moan about everything under the sun, he would also make her laugh and she felt inexplicably comfortable in his presence. It truly did not make sense that in just over two weeks the boy who used to throw slushie's in her face was now such an important part of her life.

"I'm hanging up on you now, Noah. I'll see you in approximately ten seconds."

Eleven seconds later Rachel arrived at the rear-left entrance. They'd chosen this door because it was really just a glorified fire exit. It led to a small fenced in area and you had to squeeze a path between the edge of the building and the fence in order to get back to the car lot.

Noah nodded at her when he saw her and once she'd checked that the hallway was empty she unlocked the door using her key from the failed 'Cabaret' production.

"Has anybody seen you?" Rachel asked him.

"Nope."

"Are you sure?" she asked nervously.

"For fuck's sake, Berry! I parked like the furthest away from the school I could get and then I skirted around the edges of the lot to make my way here. If someone saw me, then someone saw me. There's not a lot we can do about it now."

Rachel bit her lip and nodded. She was supposed to be the confident one – this was her plan after all.

Noah carried the sleeping Evie over to the canteen trolley she'd spent the last few minutes manoeuvring over to this entrance.

The trolley had two levels and a large purple cloth lay on the top shelf, its sides reaching down to the floor, thus completely shielding the lower part. A number of musical instruments rested on top of the cloth and the plan was to place Evie on the lower shelf so she'd be hidden from view. Hopefully, it would just look like herself and Noah would be delivering the instruments to the music room. It was a simple plan and hopefully it would be an effective one too.

Rachel glanced at Evie and saw that the little girl was still sleeping soundly. As long as she stayed that way then everything should work.

"We'd better hurry," Rachel said. "The teachers will be trying to restore order in the cafeteria now and soon everyone will be rushing to change out of their soiled clothes."

"Sure," he replied, brushing the cloth away to place Evie's car seat on the shelf. "Now, be a good girl for your dad and stay schtum." He whispered before letting the cloth fall back into place. "Let's get this shit over with then."

Rachel let Noah push the trolley and she fell into place next to him. They walked in silence for a minute, both anxious that they not draw attention to themselves.

"Did you have a productive morning?" Rachel enquired, trying to act like her normal self.

"I finally finished that chapter on trig," he replied keeping a firm grip on the trolley, "but I don't know if I got all the questions right."

"We can go over them tonight, if you…" she began but instantly fell silent as another student walked in their direction down the hall.

"Fucking hell, Berry, just _relax_," Noah hissed at her, which she thought was rich coming from him because he was gripping the handle of the trolley so hard she thought he might snap it.

Rachel held her breath until the guy had passed them by. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"You're supposed to be an actress, Berry, so fucking prove it. People are going to know that something's up if you go silent whenever anyone goes near you because you're normally talking for fucking Ohio." He snapped at her.

Rachel knew that his harsh tone was due to his nervousness but that didn't stop the sting she felt at his words. She was a _brilliant_ actress, actually, and if it was a talking Rachel Berry that Noah wanted, then it was a talking Rachel Berry that he was going to get…

"Did you know that in 2006 the 1952 musical, _Singin' in the Rain,_ was voted the #1 movie musical in American film history by the American Film Institute? I'm not sure that I agree with their decision as there are a few other musical motion pictures that I would place above it, but it's still an absolute _classic_. During the filming of the title sequence Gene Kelly had a 103-degree fever and the director wanted to send him home but Gene Kelly wouldn't hear of it. He eventually convinced the director that the huge preparations into prepping the scene would be wasted, and to allow at least one take. That's all it took - one take - and Kelly went home to recuperate. The rain in the scene was actually water mixed with milk so that the cameras would pick it up and it caused Gene Kelly's wool suit to shrink. But he wasn't the only one to suffer during the making of the film; Debbie Reynolds had to be carried to her dressing room after shooting 'Good Morning' because she had burst some blood vessels in her feet from all the dancing and Gene Kelly insulted her dancing at some point, which I think was very rude, and apparently Fred Astaire found her crying underneath a piano on the set somewhere and gave her a hand with her dancing. And after his demanding performance in 'Make 'Em Laugh' Donald O'Conner had to go to bed for a week to recuperate from exhaustion and carpet burns but somehow the footage got damaged and, because he was such a professional, he agreed to do the difficult number all over again." She let out an impressed sigh and glanced over at Noah, expecting to see an annoyed or frustrated look on his face like he (and most others) normally used when she started sharing her knowledge of musical trivia.

He _was_ staring ahead somewhat blankly but he said, "That running-up-the-wall-flip thing _was_ kind of awesome."

Rachel stared at him. Not only had Noah not got angry at her for talking a lot but he'd actually listened to what she'd said…about musicals! He seemed to notice that she wasn't talking again and saw her staring at him.

"What?" he asked, defensively. "My mom fucking loves that film, okay?"

She was prevented from making a response as a voice called out Noah's name. They both turned to see a pretty brunette Cheerio walking down the corridor towards them. Rachel didn't really know who she was; she tried to keep away from the Cheerios.

"Puck, I thought I heard someone say that you were supposed to be back at school today. I've missed you." The brunette pouted in what Rachel thought was quite a pathetic way. The other girl was completely ignoring her which Rachel found mildly insulting.

"Uh, yeah. I start classes again this afternoon." Noah replied.

Rachel really wasn't sure what to do. She had forgotten that she and Noah had only ever appeared around school together when they had been going out. Ever since then they had pretty much ignored each other in the corridors of McKinley. She knew that he valued his reputation at school, particularly with the female population. It was perfectly obvious to her why this Cheerio had approached him and as far as Rachel knew he wasn't seeing anyone at the moment. Would Noah want her to go away so that he could arrange some sort of date (although she doubted that dating would be what they would actually do) with this girl? She probably _would_ have left if it weren't for the fact that Evie was hidden mere inches from where she was standing.

"So you'll still be in my history class then?" the Cheerio asked, grinning at him.

"Well, I have history fifth period, is that the same for you?" Noah asked and Rachel nearly laughed that he obviously couldn't remember whether this Cheerio was in his class or not.

The girl's demeanour shifted and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I've been in your class since the beginning of the year, _remember_?"

Rachel found Noah's blank expression quite amusing and had to hide her smile behind a hand but the action attracted the Cheerio's attention.

"Can we help you, nose-job?" the brunette asked in a scathing tone.

"Actually, Berry and I were just taking this stuff to the choir room." Noah said coldly before Rachel could respond. "And we've gotta get going."

The Cheerio raised a sceptical eyebrow at him. "Whatever. I'll see you in history, Puck."

"Yeah, maybe, um…" Rachel saw Noah's forehead crease as he tried to remember the girl's name.

"_Kelly_," the girl seethed, balling her hands into fists at her sides.

"Whatever," Noah mumbled and started pushing the trolley again. Rachel glanced at the girl once more and would have felt sorry for Kelly if the Cheerio hadn't just ignored her before insulting her nose.

"You didn't have to blow her off," Rachel told him after a few moments of silence. "I could have gotten Evie to the choir room on my own."

"S'okay, Berry. She seemed like a bit of a bitch anyway."

"Since when do you care?" Rachel asked before she could stop herself. She'd been thinking of Santana and Quinn (although Quinn hadn't been so bad recently). "I'm sorry," she said, quickly. "It's none of my business who you date."

Noah chuckled. "That's true. But, I dunno, I'm just so fucking busy at the moment that I can't be bothered to put up with a bitchy girl. They're too much hassle."

They'd managed to reach the choir room without anyone discovering Evie and they both visibly relaxed as they shut the door behind them.

"Let me show you the room we picked," Rachel said and Noah pushed the trolley over to the door she was heaving open. It was dark inside the small room so he flipped the switch to turn the lights on. She heard him gasp and failed to suppress the grin on her face.

She, Mike and Matt had managed to covertly smuggle some more of the baby stuff from the props room into Evie's new hiding place. There was a cot, a baby bouncer, a mobile and supplies such as diapers and a few changes of clothes. The walls had been bare before so they'd pinned up posters of puppies, Winnie-the-Pooh and other cute things to make it feel more homely.

"This is fucking sweet," Noah said and Rachel felt her grin widen. "I can't believe you got the room ready like this. But if someone walks in when we're not here then they're going to know something's up."

Rachel pulled a key from her pocket. "We changed the lock on the door. Obviously we're not going to lock anyone _in_ when they're looking after Evie because that's ridiculously dangerous, but nobody else will be able to get in here when we're not babysitting Evie and we already know how highly unlikely it is that someone will want to come in when we _are_ watching over her."

Noah laughed and he pulled her against his side in a one armed hug. "You're a fucking nutjob," he said, but in such an affectionate tone that she really didn't mind that the words themselves were somewhat insulting.

A snuffling sound came from the trolley and Rachel leant down to retrieve Evie's car seat from behind the purple cloth. Evie hadn't woken up yet so Rachel carried her carefully into the room.

"Finn should be here soon," Rachel said as she placed the car seat onto the floor. She felt herself blush as she recalled the last time that she, Noah and Finn had all been in the same room.

Things with Finn had been somewhat frustrating since Thursday evening. He'd sent her small smiles all throughout Friday but he hadn't actually talked to her. Nor had he contacted her all weekend. She was more than a little confused about what he felt for her; what he wanted them to be.

She wanted to be his girlfriend and she'd made no secret of that but did he want to be her boyfriend?

And, just as though her thoughts had summoned him, Finn walked into the room.

"Hey," he said in greeting. "You managed to get her in all right then?"

"Yes, everything went according to plan." Rachel replied. "Evie has been asleep the entire time. How did the food fight go?"

"It was pretty epic. Nearly everyone got covered in food. I had to watch through the door though cos I didn't want to show up here with a load of sauce on my face."

They spent the next few minutes reassuring Finn that he knew what he was doing and that he could text she or Noah if he had any questions.

The bell rang to signal the start of the afternoon lessons and Rachel and Noah gently kissed Evie goodbye on the forehead.

Rachel placed and hand on Finn's arm and squeezed it reassuringly. "You'll do brilliantly, Finn, don't worry."

He sent her a grateful smile and she and Noah shut the door behind them. Operation Babywatch was officially underway.

* * *

Puck had survived fifth period history (with that Kelly girl glaring at him the entire time. It wasn't his fault that he didn't remember her and then the stupid bitch had made it worse by insulting Berry. What, was he just supposed to _ignore_ what she'd said? He had in the past but it wasn't cool to do so when she was breaking like a hundred rules to help him out with Evie and, you know, they were…friends.) and it appeared that Finn had survived his fifth period free too because he walked into the biology class and sat heavily next to Puck.

"Was everything okay?" Puck asked. He didn't want to seem too worried but he hadn't really been able to concentrate on what his teacher had been telling him about Robert E Lee because his mind had kept wandering to the small room that Evie and Finn were in.

"Yeah, it was fine." Finn replied, sounding relieved. "She just slept."

Puck nodded. He'd be relieved too but there were still 2 periods left til the end of the day; only at 3:15 would he properly relax before tomorrow. "Did Tina turn up?"

"Yeah," Finn began and Puck thought he was going to say more but then their teacher arrived and started the lesson.

Forty-five minutes of learning about mitosis later, Puck started dragging his ass to math. That's right, _math_. Berry would be proud.

He felt a hand on his arm and saw Finn walking next to him.

"I just wanted to talk to you about last Thursday," Finn said, looking nervous.

Puck had to think for a moment. Last Thursday? And then he remembered that was the day that he walked in on Finn and Berry.

"What about it?" he asked gruffly. He wondered if Finn knew that he and Berry had fallen out for a couple of days because of that night.

"I just wanted to like, apologise, if you had a problem with it."

"What, you mean, you trying to suck Berry's face off? Why would I have a fucking problem with it?"

Finn actually blushed. What was he; a fucking _girl_?

"Well, you guys _are_ ex's and you're living at hers. And we were supposed to be looking after Evie." Finn shrugged. "You seemed a bit pissed when you came in."

"I was just tired from work. I don't give a shit about what you and Berry were doing." He lied. He knew he _shouldn't_ have a problem with the two of them making out but he just…did. It was weird.

"Really?" Finn asked and Puck gave his friend a speculative look. Was Finn asking his permission to continue things with Berry? Is so, then that was fucking stupid; he had absolutely no claim on her whatsoever. He and Berry had dated for a few days, like, six months ago. That was it. Yeah, he was living with her at the moment but that was because of Evie. It's not like they're romantically interested in each other; she's totally into Finn and he…he's got a newborn baby to look after.

If Berry _wasn't_ interested in Finn then he doubted that things would be different. He'd established that she was a hot Jew back in October and just yesterday he'd realised that he liked Berry as a friend too. But while she was still helping him with Evie there was _no way_ that he'd try something more (unless, you know, she seduced him or something) because, while things weren't great in his life at the moment, Berry was making things a lot better than they could be and he didn't want to lose that.

But all this was irrelevant because Berry liked Finn and that was all there was to it.

"Dude, you should just grow a pair and fucking ask her out already. Everyone knows you want to."

Finn nodded, looking embarrassed. "Okay, cool."

Puck hoped the conversation was over. He didn't really want to talk about Finn and Berry dating anymore. It wasn't over.

"And I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you." Finn murmured and Puck stopped dead.

"The fuck did you just say?" he asked, staring at Finn in horror.

Finn rolled his eyes and turned back to him. "I just…everything you're doing with Evie, you know, getting a job, going to classes. You're taking responsibility for something and I didn't really think you could do it. I'm just saying I'm proud of you."

Puck groaned. "Dude, that's the most homo thing you've ever said. I seriously suggest that you check that your balls are still attached to your body."

"Can't you just be serious for once?" Finn asked in irritation. "I'm trying to pay you a compliment here."

Puck sighed. After the whole 'Quinn thing' he really should try and be a better friend to Finn. It wasn't going to kill him to have a proper conversation with him. _Be cool_ he told himself, _be nice._

"I'm sorry," Puck muttered.

"That's okay, I guess." Finn shrugged, moving to walk away again.

"No, dude, I'm sorry about everything. About Quinn." Puck found it slightly odd that he'd gone from not really saying sorry at all, to making two big apologies in two days. He blamed Berry. And no, he'd never actually gotten round to apologising to Finn for what had happened.

Finn held out a fist and Puck only just stopped himself from flinching before he realized that Finn wasn't going to punch him.

"Start over?" Finn asked and Puck grinned, bumping his fist against Finn's.

"Sure."

* * *

A/N Awww Bromance!

Many thanks to the IMDB for providing me with the Singin' in the Rain trivia (I have major Donald O'Conner love in that film even though I've only seen it once).

So, next chapter, I'm hopeful, will be out in 3-4 weeks time because that's when half term is (so I have a week off) which sucks cos it's so long away L

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was going to have the different perspectives of the glee kids when they take it in turns to watch over Evie in the next few chapters but I wanted the story to move on a little quicker.

Hope we're enjoying the new episodes of a certain TV show (I totally wish I hadn't put an embargo on you guys talking to me about it! I don't physically know anyone who is as obsessed as me, so reviews can refer to anything that happens up to and including Ep 117)

Please let me know what you thought of the chapter!

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXxXx

PS 'The Mummy' was on TV in the UK today. Yay for the name Evie!


	12. Non Dates and Near Disasters

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

Thank you for all the reviews, favourites and alerts everyone!

No more new Glee until September. I'm sad L If you're sad too then I hope this cheers you up a teensy bit.

Chapter 12: Non Dates and Near Disasters

* * *

"He's late for your date." Noah commented and Rachel frowned at him, smoothing out invisible creases on the sleeves of her sweater.

"How many times do I have to explain this to you, Noah? Finn and I are not going on a date." Rachel very much wished that they _were_ but she wasn't willing to push Finn just yet; she'd wait a couple of weeks for him to get his act together and _then_ she'd ask him to define the nature of their relationship.

"Two people who want to fuck each other, spending time together in public. Sounds like a date to me." Noah shrugged, keeping his gaze on a repeat of some basketball game playing on the television in the lounge, Evie resting in his lap and a bag of chips at his side.

"And anyway, Finn isn't technically late." Rachel said, ignoring his comment (she often found this was the best way to cope with his barbaric language). "We decided he'd pick me up around eleven thirty. _Around_, Noah. Eleven thirty-seven is still close to eleven thirty."

"So at what time is he late then? You know, just so I can tell you."

Rachel turned to glare at him but he couldn't see her because he was _still_ watching the game.

"Are you actually going to _do_ anything apart from laze around on the sofa and eat your bodyweight in junk food today, Noah?" She queried, coming to stand in front of the television. "I know that you're looking after Evie but today _is_ your day off. You should make the most of it – it's a lovely day outside."

"Berry, you just said it yourself; it's my day off. I've either been doing school shit or working at the garage for the last six days. Today, I plan on doing fuck all. Now move your tiny ass out of the way of the game."

Rachel raised her chin slightly and gave him an expectant look. Noah stared at her blankly. "Manners cost nothing, Noah," she chimed and he rolled his eyes.

"Fine. _Please_ get the fuck out the way of the screen."

Rachel knew that wasn't perfect, but it was a start and she started to walk away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Noah struggling to open the chips with one hand while he supported Evie so she moved forward to take the baby girl from him.

"Thanks," he muttered as she cradled the girl carefully in her arms and Rachel smiled at his voluntary use of polite manners.

Rachel had found her fears of holding a young baby dissipate the more she'd had to take care of Evie. Now, she had absolutely no qualms in looking after her; whether that be feeding, changing, bathing, getting her to sleep or other areas of care.

The experience of taking care of a newborn baby was extremely tiring and it wasn't helped by the nerves she felt every afternoon when the members of the glee club took turns in babysitting Evie.

The first week of Operation Babywatch had gone pretty smoothly. They'd only had one sticky moment where Evie had woken up as they'd pushed her through the corridor (concealed in the trolley). She and Noah had been forced to duck into an empty classroom and gently soothe the little girl back to sleep with some gentle singing of 'All I have to do is dream' by the Everly Brothers (Noah said that he hates the song but Rachel's pretty sure he's lying)**.**

Noah only had four weeks left of his part time paternity leave left and Rachel hoped that he would have enough money to pay for child care after that. Her fathers had helped him to fill in some government forms in order to claim money to help him support Evie but that would also take a couple of weeks to come through.

However, it wasn't as though Noah and Evie were living like paupers at the moment. Her fathers had rejected any talk about him paying any rent and they'd point blank refused his money when he tried to help pay for the groceries. Rachel knew that Noah was uncomfortable with relying on others to help him with Evie but he was a lot more relaxed about it than he had been a couple of weeks ago.

Rachel turned at the sound of a car engine coming to a rest outside the house. She walked quickly to the window and saw that yes, it was Finn.

"Is it Hudson?" Noah asked as she walked back towards him

"Yes," she replied, unsure what to do with herself.

"'Bout fucking time," Noah mumbled and reached up to take Evie from her.

"Noah, do I…do I look alright?" Rachel queried, motioning to her person.

His eyes raked over her body and she was sure his gaze lingered on her chest more than any other part of her and she blushed.

"Yeah, you look fine." He answered, shrugging. Rachel tried not to frown at his unenthusiastic response. "Relax, Berry, Finn'll still like you even if you wear a sumo-wrestling outfit."

Rachel wrinkled her nose. "Thank you, Noah…I think."

There was a knock on the door and Rachel walked towards it slowly so it didn't seem like she had been looking out for Finn for the last half an hour.

"Hi," Finn greeted as she opened the door.

"Hi," she replied, a happy smile on her face. "Would you like to come in for a few minutes?"

"Sure," he shrugged before taking a step inside and toeing off his shoes. "Hey, man," he called out to Noah, noticing him sat on the couch.

Noah raised a hand in greeting and said, "S'up, dude," but didn't take his eyes off of the screen. Rachel shook her head at his rudeness.

"Would you like a drink?" she asked Finn and he requested a soda.

"I want one too," Noah yelled after her as she walked towards the kitchen. "With ice."

She turned and glared at the back of his head. "Would you like ice too, Finn?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah, please." He replied and she smiled at his use of good manners.

"See, Noah, _Finn_ doesn't have to be told to say please." She declared.

Finn sat down on the couch next to Noah and Rachel was sure she heard Noah mutter, "Pussy," at him.

She sighed but retrieved two sodas with ice in them from the kitchen nonetheless.

She handed Noah his glass and he muttered a, "Cheers, B," and she wondered why he didn't find it difficult to thank her, but often forgot to say please.

Finn was holding Evie so Rachel placed his soda on the coffee table (on a coaster, of course) and he thanked her but kept his attention on the television too.

Rachel frowned. Was a magical spell cast over teenaged boys that made them ignore anybody else in the room once a sports programme appeared on the television?

"Have you had a pleasant weekend, Finn?" she asked, trying to get his attention away from the basketball game.

"Yeah, it's been okay." He replied, sparing her a glance before returning his gaze to the TV. "I can't believe his misses this shot," Finn muttered to Noah and the other boy nodded solemnly.

Rachel crossed her arms and sank into a nearby armchair. Yes, she wanted Finn to pay attention to her but she knew that he and Noah's friendship had only recently become tangible once more and she didn't want to disrupt that.

However, once five minutes had passed and the only conversation had been in regards to the game, Rachel decided that enough was enough. She'd waited _months_ to go on an outing (not a date) with Finn and she wasn't going to let basketball stand in her way.

The only problem was that she didn't want to be a buzz-kill and pull Finn away from something that he was obviously enjoying. She'd read somewhere that if you stared at someone long enough then they'd become aware of it. (This obviously didn't work on Finn because she'd been staring at him for the last five minutes and he hadn't looked her way once.) So she turned her gaze to Noah and waited. About fifteen seconds later she was pleasantly surprised that he looked in her direction.

He raised an eyebrow at her staring and she raised both her eyebrows and jerked her head towards Finn in response. He frowned and shrugged but she made her expression more severe, causing him to roll his eyes.

Finn was completely unaware of their silent exchange.

"Dude, why the fuck are you sitting here?" Noah asked Finn in his own, polite way. "Don't you and Berry have plans?"

Finn _finally_ took his eyes off the television and glanced at Noah and then Rachel.

"There's no real rush, Finn." Rachel said, sweetly. "But if we want to check out what times the movie's showing we should probably leave soon to see if we can catch an afternoon viewing." She could see Noah rolling his eyes again but she ignored him.

"Oh, yeah, that's true," Finn agreed.

Rachel smiled. And people said she couldn't be subtle.

Finn carefully handed Evie back over to Noah before standing up. "See you later, man."

"Later." Noah replied.

Finn walked towards the front door and Rachel told him she'd be there in a minute.

"Bye, sweetheart," Rachel said, coming forwards to kiss Evie on the head.

"Berry, I know we're friends now but don't you think 'sweetheart' is a bit much?" Noah asked, smirking slightly as Rachel playfully hit him on the arm.

"You're ridiculous," she muttered, trying to ignore the blush she could feel on her cheeks as she pecked Evie's head. She wrinkled her nose. "And you need to take a shower."

"Whatever, Berry, this is the scent of pure man." He scoffed.

"Well, it stinks. But, um, thank you for helping me with…Finn."

"S'alright Berry. Dude's a bit clueless sometimes."

Rachel chuckled. As fond as she was of Finn, she knew that Noah's assessment was somewhat true.

"Goodbye, Noah."

"Bye, Berry. Have fun on your _date_."

Rachel sighed as she walked over to the front door too. That boy was incorrigible.

Once he'd been removed from the lure of the television, Finn was a lot more talkative and he and Rachel spent the journey to the town centre discussing their weekends so far. Rachel told him about a new piece of music her piano teacher had given her to learn and the difficult choreography she'd had to master in her dance class. Finn told her how many people he'd shot on Halo and what his mom made him for dinner.

Upon arriving at the Multiplex they decided that they would see the 2pm showing of 'How to Train Your Dragon'. But since there were a couple of hours before the film was due to start they crossed over to the mall.

Rachel suggested that they visit the music store to see if there was any sheet music of suitable duets that she and Finn could prepare for the glee club next year. There were seven that she thought were appropriate and Finn added another two of his own choice. Rachel also purchased a book of lullabies and other songs that were suitable for babies.

Next, Finn convinced Rachel to manufacture a toy bear with him (although she was only pretending to be reluctant. Who _wouldn't_ want to Build a Bear?). Finn suggested that she make one for herself but Rachel decided that if anyone needed a bear then it was surely Evie.

They picked out one with honey-coloured fur and then proceeded to the next area.

"What sound do you think we should put in?" Finn asked, looking through the different selections. "An, 'I love you'?" He pressed the corresponding button and they both wrinkled their noses at the sickly sweet voice.

"No, I don't think so." She replied. "Oh, look! You can record your own message."

"You wanna do that then?"

She nodded.

"Okay, but, what are we going to say?" he wondered.

Rachel thought for a moment and then beamed at him. "We can sing something for her!"

They spent the next few minutes debating what they could sing that would only be ten seconds long (because that's how much would fit on the recording device) and be something that Evie would like.

"Right, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Rachel asked Finn and he nodded.

She pressed the record button and together they sang, "Love, love, love, love is all you need."

They listened back to themselves and Rachel grinned at him. "I think The Beatles was a very good suggestion, Finn."

They proceeded to the next stage to get their bear stuffed and Rachel picked out a small satin heart to be placed inside the bear. She'd made a wish with the heart (just as the store assistant had instructed her to) but she wouldn't tell Finn what she'd wished for because then it wouldn't come true, would it?

Their bear was stitched up but they decided to forego the dressing area as Rachel didn't think the bear needed any clothes.

And finally, it was time for them to decide on a name for the bear. This was a difficult decision because Rachel didn't want to pick something personal to herself; this was a bear for _Evie_. They came up with quite a few names but none of them felt right.

"How about Drizzle?" Finn asked and Rachel laughed.

"You're not going to let that name go, are you?"

"I think it's pretty," Finn said, shrugging.

She looked at the bear she was holding in her arms. A bear called Drizzle? It was an absurd suggestion but…she kind of liked it.

"Okay," she sighed. "You can call him Drizzle."

"Wait? _Him? _Drizzle's a girl's name." Finn reminded her.

"Drizzle is _nobody's_ name, Finn. You made it up and you never said the name was gender specific."

"Yeah, but it was created with a girl in mind."

"But we've already decided that this is a boy bear. Finn, do you want the name 'Drizzle' to be a part of Evie's life or not? You know that Noah's never going to let you call her that." Rachel pointed out.

Finn sighed. "Fine, boy bear Drizzle it is." He relented.

With Drizzle bought for and safely enclosed in his box, Finn and Rachel decided that it was time for some lunch. They had just reached the food court when through hustle and bustle of a crowded area, Rachel could hear 'Defying Gravity' emanating from her cell phone. She sent an apologetic look to Finn and pulled the phone out of her purse.

"Hello?" she said.

"Berry?"

"Oh, hello, Noah. What's the matter?"

"Look, I don't want to get in the way of your date but Evie keeps throwing up and she's like seriously fucking hot and won't stop crying and I don't know what the hell to do." She heard the worry in his voice and it made concern creep through her bones.

"Okay, Noah, I'll be back as soon as I can but don't panic; apparently babies get sick all the time." She said in an as reassuring a voice as possible.

"Thanks, Berry. And I'm sorry that this is fucking up your date."

"It's fine, Noah, honestly. I'll see you soon."

"Bye, Berry." She snapped the phone shut and turned to Finn with an apologetic look on her face.

"You have to go?" Finn asked, looking disappointed. She felt the same way that he did. She'd been having a lot of fun spending time with Finn; he made her laugh, took an interest in the things she liked and said sweet things that made her blush.

"I'm afraid so. Evie's unwell and Noah sounds quite panicky. It's probably nothing serious but…" She trailed off. "I hope you don't mind."

"No, no it's okay, I understand." Finn replied. "Come on, let's go." He reached out and took her hand and she smiled at him, lacing their fingers together.

* * *

Puck let out a sigh of relief as he and Berry successfully entered the choir room without Evie being discovered in the trolley. They were on day nine of Operation Babywatch (Seriously, that name didn't sound any less stupid the more you said it) and there were sixteen days to go after this. Puck was relieved that they were nearly half way through 'cause this stealth thing was really getting on his nerves.

"There's still fifteen minutes until afternoon classes are due to start. You should go and see Mr Maguire about your paper on The Catcher in the Rye." Berry suggested. "I've told you I can't help you with that seeing as I've never read the novel."

He sighed. "Do I have to?"

"Well, if you want your GPA to improve then I would certainly recommend it, Noah. It won't take you long." She reached down and took Evie's car seat out from behind the cloth, his little girl was thankfully still asleep inside. "I don't mind waiting for Kurt to arrive."

Puck knew when he was fighting a losing battle and this? Was one of those times.

"Whatever, I suppose I'll see you later then."

Berry nodded. "Have a pleasant afternoon and evening at work, Noah."

He hefted his bag onto his shoulder and walked out of the room.

If he had any choice (and with Berry around he really didn't) he'd spend these minutes before lessons started relaxing, because having a newborn daughter was fucking stressful.

Luckily, Evie hadn't been seriously ill on Sunday. Berry had phoned her dads on the way back to the house and they'd suggested that it might be some trapped wind and they'd told she and Finn to pick up some gripe water (whatever the fuck that was). But whatever was in that stuff worked though because Evie was much better after that.

He hated that feeling he'd had of not knowing what to do. Berry's Dads had reassured him that night that this is stuff he'd learn about over time – no one became an excellent parent over night and it was when you thought you _did_ know everything that life would come and bite you in the ass and show you that you didn't.

Once Evie had settled down and wasn't trying to scream everyone's ears off, Berry'd made a big show of presenting her with a bear that she and Finn had made (Finn had left by this point. Puck thinks the wailing, puking baby freaked him out a little). A bear called Drizzle. Seriously, his friends were fucking morons.

Her dad's thought it was adorable though, especially when they pressed its tummy and it started singing 'All you need is love' at them. Puck was going to have to have a word with Finn about how to act like a fucking man.

"So, you had fun on your date with Hudson today then?" he'd quietly asked her later that evening when they were all watching the film 'Hancock' together (She likes it for the romance, he digs it for the awesome fight scenes and because this dude is a total badass (at the beginning of the film anyway)).

She was sat next to him, a bowl of popcorn between them, and she sent him a small smile. "Yes."

"What? That's it? Berry, I don't think you've ever answered a question with one word before. This deserves some sort of a celebration!"

She rolled her eyes at him and took a handful of the popcorn. "I don't wish to discuss my love life with you." She whispered so that her Dads wouldn't hear.

"A-ha! 'Your _love life',_ eh, Berry? So it was a date."

She bit her lip and he could still make out the flush on her cheeks despite the darkness in the room. He couldn't help noticing how sexy she was like that and he immediately tried to think of something else. He hadn't had sex in such a fucking long time (for him, anyway) and his thoughts were making him increasingly..._uncomfortable_ sometimes and he really didn't want to be thinking about her that way anyway 'cause that might make things kinda weird.

"He asked me to be his girlfriend," she said so quietly that he almost didn't hear her.

"What?" he asked loudly and she immediately shushed him which he thought was a fucking stupid thing to do because it only got her Dads' attention even more.

"Everything alright?" Mr Berry number one (the one with glasses) asked.

"Yes, of course Dad," Rachel answered sweetly and her Dads turned their attention back to the screen.

There are a couple of minutes of silence before he asks, "You say yes?"

"Well...yes." she replies, popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth.

"Oh, cool. Well, good for you." He doesn't sound too sincere but he's pleased for them. He _is_. He's not fucking ecstatic about it or anything but they're his two closest friends and he supposes he wants them to be happy (she's done a lot for him recently and he'd kinda fucked up Finn's life with the Quinn thing) and if being together makes them happy, then he's happy, sort of – you know, as long as he doesn't have to see it. He has a feeling they'll be nauseating together.

He was nearly at Mr Maguire's office when his cell rang. He grabbed it out of his jacket and saw Berry's number on the caller ID. "What the hell, Berry, I spoke to you like two minutes ago."

"Noah," her voice is panicked and it instantly sets him on edge. "You have to find Jacob Ben Israel _immediately._"

He whirls around and quickly scans the corridor he's in. "Why?" he asks urgently. He can tell by the tone of her voice that this is important.

"He saw me with Evie in the choir room, Noah."

"Fuck!" he cursed and started moving quickly down the corridor, trying to keep an eye out for that Jewfro.

"Noah! What if he tells Principal Figgins or Coach Sylvester?" Her voice trembled and he could tell she was about to break down into tears.

"I'll find him, Berry, don't freak out. Just sit in Evie's room and turn the lights off. No one will know you're there." He instructed her as he rushed through the school. "I'll call you when I've found him."

"Okay," she said shakily and hung up the phone.

Shit, this was fucking _bad. _If that freak did manage to tell an adult about what he'd seen then Puck knew that he and Berry would be in a whole load of shit. He _had_ to find Jacob first.

A couple of panicked minutes later Puck saw the back of him and raced forward. He grabbed Jewfro's shoulder and swung him round to push him against the lockers.

Jacob yelped in shock as Puck fisted his t-shirt and held him in place. "I don't know what the fuck you think you just saw," Puck growled in his most threatening voice, "but if you don't want your face to be anymore disfigured that it already is then I suggest you keep your mouth fucking shut."

Jacob blinked rapidly behind his glasses and swallowed nervously. "Your terms are perfectly reasonable and I would accept them if it weren't for the fact that...I've already told someone."

_Fucking, shitting hell._

Puck was just about to haul his fist back to punch it in the little sneak's face when he felt a tap at his shoulder and a familiar voice said, "Puck?" With a feeling of dread, Puck turned around to face Mr. Schuester. The Spanish teacher didn't look pleased. "Can I have a word?"

Ten minutes later, both Puck and Berry were sat in Mr Schue's office. The fact that there was no sign of Evie made him both worried and relieved (if that's even possible).

"So, where's Evie?" Mr Schue asked casually, taking a seat at his desk.

"She's with her babysitter," Berry explained. "We know it's against the rules, Mr Schue, but due to time restraints, the only feasible way that the babysitter can collect Evie is for them to get her from us at school. Noah brings Evie in at lunchtime and the babysitter takes her from then until _I_ collect her after school."

"So, you just sit with Evie in the choir room until her babysitter comes to collect her?" Mr Schue asked doubtfully.

Puck had to admire Berry's ability to twist the truth to a teacher like that. Strictly speaking, nothing she'd said was a lie and the way she'd told it didn't make it sound quite as bad as it really was (that students were secretly babysitting Evie in a large cupboard with 'borrowed' school property.).

"Well, yes. That's why Evie's no longer with me. You didn't think I'd leave a three week old baby on her own somewhere, did you?" Berry asked, horrified.

"No, of course not." Mr Schue sighed, although Puck thinks he must've thought that a little bit. Where else did he think Evie was?

Puck assumed that Jacob had only seen Berry and Evie together in the choir room and not discovered Evie's secret room because otherwise it'd be a whole lot more obvious what they were really doing. And he really fucking hoped that Kurt turned up in time to take Evie because if he hadn't...then where the hell was his daughter?

"Look, Mr Schue. We know it looks dodgy," Puck said. He thought it was time he inputted something into this conversation and didn't let Berry do all the work (and, so you know, he didn't look guilty) "But this whole baby thing came out of the blue; I've got fuck all money right now," (he ignored the frown Schue shot his way for swearing), "I'm working my ass off to get my grades up and get some money to take care of my kid. This was the only day care I can afford with the money I've got and at such short notice. And it's not like what we're doing is hurting anyone."

He was pretty proud of himself for that speech. Again, pretty much everything he said was true; he has no money (yet) which means that the only babysitting he can afford right now comes free. And nobody _is_ getting hurt through this. He hoped that Mr Schue could cut them some slack.

Mr Schuester looked at them both carefully. Puck was sure that their glee director knew that there was more to this than they were letting on but Puck reasoned that it was Mr Schue's fault for not interviewing them separately. Puck's pretty sure that if he _had_ then the whole truth would've come out. Puck had completely taken the lead from Berry on this one.

Mr Schue sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "You're going through a tough time. Both of you. I can't really understand what it's like for you to try and raise a baby whilst worrying about money and school work and jobs and you're not even out of high school yet!" He chuckled slightly and Puck wondered whether that was a good sign or not.

"It is hard," Berry agreed. "But we want to do it. For Evie." She said earnestly and Mr Schue's expression turned very sombre.

"There's no other way you can get someone to watch over Evie?" he asked.

"Not at the moment." Berry admitted. "Noah has part time paternity leave until three weeks on Monday and then he has to attend school full time. Hopefully, by that point he should have been paid by Mr Hummel and he can employ someone to watch over Evie for the whole day. But until then, this is our only option if Noah still wants to attend school."

"Just three more weeks?" Mr Schue asked. Puck and Berry nodded. Mr Schue sighed again and then nodded, reluctantly. "Jacob must have been mistaken then. Perhaps he needs to go to the optician to have his prescription checked."

Berry beamed at him. "Thank you, Mr Schuester. You have no idea how grateful we are."

"Yeah, cheers Mr Schue." Puck agreed. "We'll make it up to you somehow."

Mr Schuester shook his head. "There's no need. Just...promise me you'll be careful."

Berry nodded eagerly. "Of course we will be and even if someone else discovers this then we won't tell anyone that you were aware. We don't want to get you into trouble for helping us."

"Well, hopefully it won't come to that." Mr Schuester said and Puck agreed with him a hundred fucking percent.

"Um, if that's all, Mr Schuester, could we please get back to class?" Berry asked.

"Yes, of course." The Spanish teacher agreed and both Puck and Berry quickly got out of his office.

Puck noticed that Berry was shaking as they moved towards their classrooms.

"Where's Evie?" Puck asked the second he thought they were far enough away from Schue.

"Kurt has her." She explained. "He arrived just after I talked to you and I thought it would be best if I was discovered _without_ a baby."

He nodded.

"Oh, Noah, that was so close," Berry breathed. "I honestly thought we were going to be expelled!"

"We were fucking lucky that Jewfro ratted on us to Schue." Puck admitted. "Anyone else would've kicked us straight out of this school."

Berry let out a strangled noise and Puck saw that despite her calmness in Schue's office, it looked like she was about to freak out.

"Hey," he said, putting his arm around her, so she didn't start like, hysterically sobbing in the middle of the corridor. "It's all right. Nothing happened. We got through that shit without a scratch."

He heard her chuckle and take a deep breath as they continued to walk down the corridor.

"Are we still going to do this for sixteen more days, Noah?" she asked and she sounded fucking exhausted.

"I think it's like you said. Unless I'm going to drop out of school –"

"-Which you're not."

"Which I'm not." He conceded. "Then I don't think we've got a choice."

"Okay then," she sighed. "Do you think we should tell the others what happened?"

"Did you tell Kurt?"

"No. But he could probably sense that something was wrong."

"I think it's better if they don't know." Puck said. "It'll make them nervous."

"I don't want to lie to them," she told him.

"It'll only be one of those omissy lies." He argued.

"A lie of omission? That's still a lie." She pointed out.

"Yeah, but what they don't know, won't hurt them." He reasoned.

"Fine," she sighed. "But I can't wait for this to be over."

"Sixteen days, Berry. Just sixteen days."

* * *

A/N Thank you for reading!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It shouldn't take quite as long for the next one to come up.

I think I've discovered that I can't write Finchel very well. It took me forever to write about their little non-date but the rest of this was easy! Weird. Luckily, Finchel won't be sticking around in this story for that much longer!

Oh, and I've never actually been to Build-a-bear so if any of that was inaccurate then I'm sorry! My sister's been a couple of times though (she made bears that look like Snape and Harry Potter, they're weird).

Anyho, let me know your feelings on this!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


	13. Six Days to Go

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world

No, you're not mistaken. This story has actually been updated. Hooray! I've wanted to write more of this fic for ages but I've had a supremely busy past couple of months and I didn't want to get into the story again and then have to go cold turkey for 2 months.

Thank you to all who've stuck with this story over the last few months, patiently waiting for me to write some more. Extra thanks to reviewers, favouriters, and alerters! :D

Let's get on with the story!

* * *

Chap 13: Six Days to Go

Puck yawned hugely as he held the bottle for Evie to feed from. He couldn't believe that she was already a month and a half old. The time was seriously flying by. Realising that another day was gone he walked over to the fridge and took a day off the countdown that he and Berry had set up. It now read '6'. Her Dads thought that it represented the number of part-time paternity leave days he had left and, in a way, it did show that. But to him and Berry it was counting down the days left 'til that fucking Operation Babywatch was over.

He always got a sick feeling in his stomach when he remembered how close they'd come to disaster a couple of weeks ago but, true to their word, Jewfro and Schue hadn't told anyone about the sight of a baby in the choir room. He and Berry hadn't told the rest of the gleeks what had happened and he knew that she was feeling guilty about it but it was for the best. It was probably selfish of him to think so but he was going through a pretty shitty time in his life and he thought it was ok for him to be selfish right now – he needed the gleeks to take care of Evie in the afternoons and after today there was only one week left. Telling them that they'd nearly been caught would make them pussy-out and that wasn't an option right now.

In between school, work and homework he and Berry had managed to find time to look into day care for Evie. There they'd come upon a problem – day care centres would only start taking on children when they were three months old at the very least and Evie would only be _nearly_ two months old when his paternity ran out. Puck would have a normal week of school, a week of finals and then the last week of the year before it was summer break. He didn't really have a problem with taking the last week off because they normally did fuck-all that week and he could take the week before finals off if he really had to. The problem was finals week. There was no way in hell that he could miss those if he didn't want to be expelled from McKinley and then all this 'Babywatch' thing would've been for fuck all.

He heard feet approaching the kitchen and turned to see Berry taking a seat at the breakfast bar. It took him less than a second to realise that she looked miserable about something. She was normally a very bubbly, chirpy person in the morning, much to his annoyance because he definitely wasn't a morning person. He could tell that something was bothering her because firstly, she hadn't said a single word (_very_ unusual) and she was sitting with her chin resting in her palms without the slightest trace of a smile on her face.

He was only slightly tempted to ask her what was wrong. He was a dude; he didn't particularly care about any of Rachel Berry's drama because she'd talk for _hours_ and expect him to actually listen and he couldn't be bothered to pretend to do that.

Berry heaved a big sigh and, knowing that he was likely to regret this, he asked, "What's got your panties in a twist?" Ok, so he'd given in and shown a tiny bit of concern but that didn't mean that he had to be polite about it.

She fixed her miserable gaze on him and he thought about how he fucking hated seeing that. Of course, a year ago he would've relished it but now he actually, like, knew her, it made him feel bad and made him want to make her feel better. Fuck, he knew that admitting that he had a friend who was a girl was going to turn him into a pussy.

Berry blinked and shook her head. "You don't want to hear about my relationship problems," she muttered and Puck raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Berry shrugged and started picking at the washcloth that was lying on the breakfast bar. "I _didn't_ think there was any trouble," she mumbled.

"Do I need to go kick Hudson's ass? Cos I'd totally do it – you know, because I don't get to go to fight club anymore and I need someone to take my badass aggression out on, _not _because I'm, like, defending you or anything." Okay, that was a bit of a lie because if Finn had been a dick to Berry then he would be a bit pissed because she totally didn't deserve that.

Berry frowned at the cloth. "No, I don't…I don't really know what's wrong. Finn's just been acting slightly off with me."

Puck refrained from rolling his eyes. This was bound to be one of those chick things where Berry was reading way too much into every little thing that Finn did, like, only putting one kiss at the end of a text instead of three. Part of his brain told him to back out of the conversation before she talked his brains out but another part was strangely curious about what was troubling her. Curiosity won out. "Care to elaborate?"

"When he was here last night his body language was very negative; all slumped shoulders and he wasn't particularly loquacious –"

" – Lo-_what?_"

"Loquacious, it means talkative, and I know that I can talk enough for both people in a relationship singlehandedly but Finn was particularly short and sullen with me. He left much earlier than usual and he refused to be drawn into a conversation about what we'll be doing on our Sunday date together this week."

Puck shrugged, careful not to disturb Evie's feeding. "It's probably nothing."

She was silent for a few seconds and he kinda hoped that that was the end of it. "Do you think I should ask him about it?" Berry enquired.

"_Fuck_, no! That's like suicide."

"_Suicide_, Noah?" She responded sarcastically.

"Yeah. Guys hate it when girls want to talk about their 'relationship'. Yeuch, even saying that word makes me feel nauseous. You start blabbering on about stuff like that and he'll break up with you, for sure."

Berry bit her lip, her eyes round and glassy looking. Aw, shit. He hoped she wouldn't cry. He could only just about handle Evie crying and there was no girly bullshit behind any of _her _tears. "Do you really think Finn will break up with me?" She whispered.

"I dunno. Probably not," he relented. He knew Hudson was crazy about Berry. He didn't know what the quarterback's problem was (or if there even _was_ one) but he doubted that Finn would chuck Berry after only a few weeks. "He'd be an idiot if he did."

Berry gave him a small smile. "Thank you, Noah." And before he knew what was happening she was walking towards him with her arms outstretched. Having his arms full with Evie meant that he could do nothing to prevent her (and, to be honest, he didn't really mind, but shut the fuck up and don't dare tell anyone).

He suddenly became aware that part of her body was resting against his crotch and quite frankly he was _that _hard up that he needed to get her away from him because even that small contact was likely to cause an embarrassing situation. "Er, shouldn't you start getting ready or you'll be late for school."

She pulled away and looked up at him with twinkling eyes. "Wow, you're actively encouraging attending school on time. I _have_ been a good influence on you."

He scoffed. "You wish, Berry. Once a badass, always a badass."

"Says the man with a pink pacifier tucked behind his ear." Berry said as she walked out of the kitchen, looking much more cheerful than when she had entered it.

Puck moved Evie to his shoulder to burp her and he couldn't help but glance down his body, even though he knew he'd gotten Berry to move away before his body had acted like a fucking thirteen year old's. He knew that his dick wasn't reacting to Berry in particular, probably any chick would have the same effect on him right now. He'd considered relieving himself of the problem but it just seemed _so_ wrong to do that in someone else's house. He was just gonna have to take more cold showers and try and stop his brain from thinking about sex all the time (if that was even possible).

Once the Berrys had all left he had his cold shower and then prepared Evie for a trip to his mom's. He hadn't seen her in, like, a month and it was important that she keep seeing Evie so that she could get used to her. And, you know, he missed his mom. He hadn't gone two weeks without seeing his mom until now. He'd just been so busy with Evie, work and school stuff that he hadn't had the time. Unfortunately his mom hadn't exactly reached out to him either…

But when he'd called her a couple of days ago she sounded happy enough when he suggested he bring Evie over for a visit.

As he walked up the driveway with Evie he realised how nervous he was, which was really ridiculous considering that this was his fucking home!

He unlocked the door and called, "Mom?" There were a few beats of silence before his mom appeared. She was smiling but it looked strained and had she always looked that tired? He pushed that from his mind and returned her smile before letting her hug him tightly.

"Oh, my little boy," she said over his shoulder. He should feel offended or embarrassed by her remark, but part of him would always be that mischievous child, and 'little' was how he felt right now in this big scary world of being a parent.

She pulled away and appraised him. "You look well, Noah. Tired, but well."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that'd make sense."

"And how's Evie doing?" His mom asked, as she directed him over to the sofa. Puck sat down and retrieved Evie from the car seat. He was glad that she'd actually acknowledged his daughter, unlike the last time that he'd brought Evie here. "She's grown so much!"

"Well, it's been a while since you've seen her." He said and then instantly wished he could take the words back as the expression on his mother's face tightened. He wasn't criticising his mom; he knew she was finding this grandchild thing tough. "I'm sorry I've been too busy to bring her over for a visit until now." He added on quickly but her features didn't soften. "Did Jem tell you that I got a job?"

They spent a while filling each other in on what had been happening in their lives. Or, rather, Puck bent the truth slightly so that his mom wouldn't know about the babysitting of Evie.

"Jem misses you." She said.

"She comes over practically every weekend!" Puck exclaimed.

"You know it's not the same," his mother said, quietly.

Puck sighed. "Yeah, I know. Do…do you want me to come home?" He held his breath as a variety of emotions flickered over his mother's face.

"Noah…," she began with a pained expression on her face and he knew what was to come, "I…this will _always_ be your home –"

"Mom, Rachel's Dads says I can stay for as long as I need." He cut in because he could tell that the conversation was upsetting her. "I don't mind living there for longer until we're all ready."

She clutched his hand tightly, looking distressed. "But, Noah, I don't want you to feel like I don't want you and Evie here."

"I know that, Mom. It's okay, we're doing fine at the Berrys'." Puck reassured her.

He didn't know exactly how to feel right now. He _did_ know that his mom wanted him back but he understood that she wouldn't be able to cope with Evie yet and this made him feel pretty low. However he seriously didn't mind staying with Berry and her Dads. They looked after him well and none of them seemed to be close to some sort of break down due to Evie's presence (unlike his mom). And he'd totally struggle without Berry's help – she was like Superwoman with all the things she did for him.

His mom raised his hand and kissed it, before giving him that strained smile again. "What _would_ you have done without Rachel, Noah?"

He laughed. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

* * *

"And the Daddy Bear, Mommy Bear and Baby Bear all cuddled up and went to sleep." Rachel heard Finn say as she entered Evie's babysitting room at school. Finn glanced in her direction as he closed the book he'd been reading. "Hey," he said softly, the smile he gave her was not exuding its usual warmth and her heart sank a little.

"Hey. How's Evie been for you this afternoon?" She enquired, coming to stand over his shoulder to look down at her favourite little girl.

"Yeah, fine. Lucky Uncle Finn got to change her nappy though," he replied, wrinkling his nose.

"Oh, sorry about that."

"It's not your fault," he pointed out, getting to his feet.

"Well, no…" Rachel trailed off and her toes curled at the awkwardness of this conversation. Things with Finn were definitely not right and she didn't know how to act around him now. Noah had advised her not to draw attention to the change in dynamic between them but that just wasn't Rachel Berry's style. She liked to know where she stood and ignoring a problem wouldn't necessarily make it go away.

And if Finn broke up with her?

Her stomach writhed in anguish. Remain in an unhappy relationship with Finn or be heartbroken and single? _Or_ clear up Finn's odd behaviour and have things back the way they were before. She had to run that risk, didn't she?

"Do you want Evie to go in the car seat so you can take her home?" Finn asked.

Caught momentarily off guard due to her thoughts, Rachel simply mumbled, "Yes, thank you."

Only the rustle of clothing and the click of the clips on the car seat were heard in the room and Rachel could stand it no longer.

"Finn, what's going on?" she asked quietly.

He turned around with a puzzled look on his face. "What d'you mean?"

"You're behaving strangely with me, different to how you normally do – and don't tell me you're not." She added on quickly as Finn opened his mouth.

He sighed. "Look, it's nothing. Just leave it, will you?"

Rachel felt a shiver of dread run through her at his admission that something was wrong but did he really expect her to just drop it? "Finn, our relationship will only work if we are honest with each other and share any grievances that we have."

Finn frowned, possibly at the word 'grievances'. "No, I don't want to. It'll just make me seem like an ass."

"I want to be the best girlfriend for you and if there's something that I could do, or stop doing, to make you happier then I want to know what it is." Rachel spoke, earnestly. Finn leant his head back against wall and sighed again. "I'm not going to let this go, Finn."

His shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes briefly. "It's just…I'm getting fed up of playing second fiddle to Evie when it comes to spending time with you." Finn mumbled, his voice getting quieter and quieter.

Rachel opened her mouth and closed it again, stunned by his admission. "But you come over practically every day after school –"

"Yeah and we're always babysitting Evie."

"And we go out on Sundays for a few hours. Evie's not with us then." Rachel pointed out.

"Exactly. A _few _hours a week when we're on our own, just being normal. As much as I care about Evie, I don't want to be watching over her all the time when I'm trying to spend time with my girlfriend."

Rachel couldn't believe how selfish Finn sounded! "And who would be looking after Evie if _I _wasn't, Finn? I'm the only one that Noah's got at the moment. In a few days his paternity leave is over and he will be employing someone. There's _one_ week left, Finn. Are you telling me you're not capable of thinking of someone else for one more week?"

"But it's not going to be one more week, is it?" He said, stepping forwards. "Puck doesn't finish work 'til eight. So are you really gonna leave Evie at some day care place until that late?"

"Well, no."

"Admit it, Rachel, you're committed to looking after Evie for way longer than one more week."

"Well of course I am!" Rachel cried. "I'm not just about to stop volunteering to take care of her, Finn!"

Finn took a deep breath. "Look," he began, quietly. "I thought that I was going to have to give up enjoying my life as a normal teenager when Quinn told me she was pregnant and then it turned out I didn't. I've been given a second chance to live my life the way I want and I don't want to watch over a baby every night with you. I want to go out and have fun with my friends and girlfriend."

Rachel stared and him coldly. "If you're asking me to choose between you and Evie then I think my answer is abundantly clear, Finn."

"I know, but…I don't want this to be it for us." Finn said, scuffing the floor with his shoe. "I thought that when Quinn had the baby and she was adopted, the past would just get left in the past and you and I could, you know, be together. I thought it was going to be our time."

Rachel's eyes watered over and some of the animosity she felt towards Finn dissipated at the tone of his voice. "Maybe we weren't ever supposed to have a time?" She suggested.

"No, I guess not." They stared at each other and Rachel wiped a few tears from her eyes. Finn opened his arms slightly and Rachel gladly stepped into his embrace for the last time as his girlfriend.

So they were to break up after all. She knew it had been a possibility when she'd questioned his behaviour but she hadn't expected it to be because of Evie. She _could_ understand Finn's feelings, (even if she thought he was being selfish) because she knew that most boys wouldn't want to spend most of their time with their girlfriend babysitting a child that wasn't even theirs.

She'd truly believed that she and Finn were meant to be…

The sound of the door opening made them pull apart to see Noah coming into the room. He took one look at their upset faces and glared at Finn.

"Noah, what are you doing here? Why aren't you on your way to work?" Rachel asked, cuffing away the tracks of her tears.

"Burt's sick. The garage is closed today." He replied, shortly, still looking hostilely at Finn.

"Um, I'd better go," Finn muttered, grabbing his things. "Bye, Rachel, Puck."

"Goodbye, Finn," Rachel said softly as he disappeared out of the door. She turned away from Noah and checked that Evie was all ready to go home.

"What happened, Berry?" Noah asked, coming to stand next to her.

"What you said would happen," Rachel responded, dryly. He said nothing in response and although she didn't want to look at him for some reason, she couldn't help but glance at his face. He didn't look smug, like she'd considered he might. He looked _concerned_ for her! She was so touched by this that it set her off crying again.

"Okay, I'm gonna go kick his ass," Noah said turning to follow Finn out of the room.

"No, Noah! Don't!" Rachel cried, grabbing his arm. "I'm fine," she finished, weakly.

"When we get home, you need to look up the definition of 'fine' in the dictionary, Berry, because you're certainly not it."

Despite the despair in her heart, she couldn't help but smile slightly. "No, I suppose not."

"Do…do you want to talk about it?" Noah asked, but the expression on his face showed that that was the _last_ thing he wanted to do. Besides, she didn't think it a particularly wise decision to inform Noah that the reason she and Finn broke up was due to her commitment in helping him with Evie. It wasn't necessary for him to know.

"No, Noah, but thank you for the offer. Let's just go home." Rachel said, picking Evie's car seat up.

"Tell you what, I'll actually let you pick a musical for us to watch tonight and I'll sit through it with minimal scoffing and swearing." Noah suggested as he took Evie from her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"I'll hold you to that," Rachel warned, leaning slightly into his embrace. She opened the door and they went into the choir room, coming face to face with one, Sue Sylvester.

* * *

A/N Ok, that is one of the meanest cliff hangers I've ever given. It's not turned out to be a good day for Rachel, huh? And yes, Finn's a bit of an ass in this chapter. But honestly, I think Finn is quite a jerk on the show anyway.

Now, I know in the last chapter I said I'd be updating more frequently and then I didn't update for eight months. Well, I seriously don't think you're going to be waiting anywhere NEAR that much for chapter 14.

Please let me know your thoughts on the new chapter. It probably doesn't read quite the same as the other chapters due to the big gap. Ooh, and your thoughts on the new series!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	14. Busted

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N See! Not such a long wait at all!

Thanks for the reviews guys!

* * *

Chapter 14 : Busted

Puck stared at the top of his daughter's head as she sat on his leg, refusing to look at anyone else in Figgins' office. He and Berry were in _so_ much fucking shit.

She was sat next to him and he could see that she was trembling out of the corner of his eye but he could think of nothing to do or say to make her feel better.

The door opened behind them and Berry turned round to see who it was but Puck already knew. He'd been in trouble enough times to know that the school were bound to phone their parents.

"Thank you for joining us Misters Berry. I'm afraid your mother has been unable to attend, Mr Puckerman." Principal Figgins said from behind his desk. Puck would be relieved but he knew that his mom would be just as pissed when he filled her in afterwards.

"It's no trouble," One of Berry's dads said. "Now if you wouldn't mind telling us why we're all here?"

"Of course. Coach Sylvester, if you would," Figgins said, indicating the cheerleading coach who was standing to the side with Mr Schue. She was looking at Puck, Berry and particularly Evie with disgust.

"Imagine the scene," Coach Sylvester began and Puck just managed to refrain from groaning because she was going to make it sound a hundred fucking times worse than it really was. "A multi-Nationals-winning cheerleading coach is innocently checking out the choir room for surveillance purposes… when she comes across _revulsion._"

"I'm sorry," Berry's other Dad said. "What exactly are you accusing Rachel and Noah of?"

"They have been harbouring that little _creature_ here during school time." Coach Sylvester spat and Puck waited for everything to go to hell. "They've vandalised one of the small music rooms and converted it into some sickening student day care centre, stocking it with school property that the hobbit has evidently been using."

"Hey! Don't talk about my daughter like that," Puck threatened.

"I wasn't talking about your spawn, Puckerman," Sue said, giving Berry a pointed glance, which was returned with a sharp glare.

"Rachel, you just _left_ Evie in an empty room for the afternoon, while you and Noah attended classes? How could you be so irresponsible?" One of her dads asked (Puck still couldn't bring himself to face them).

"We didn't, Daddy, we _never_ left Evie on her own." Berry said in a small voice.

"Miss Berry, you and Mr Puckerman haven't missed an afternoon class in the last few weeks. How could you have possibly ensured that the infant wasn't alone?" Figgins asked.

Puck looked at Berry for the first time since they'd entered the office. He felt like such a dick for making her look so fucking miserable and scared. She bit her lip and silently asked him if she should answer the Principal truthfully. He shrugged in reply, because he couldn't exactly see what else they could do.

Berry took a big shuddering breath and said to Figgins, "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say, Sir."

Puck stared at her with wide eyes. She couldn't seriously think that the adults would settle for that.

"Explain yourself, young lady!" Figgins demanded, hitting his hand on the desk. The sudden noise startled Puck's baby girl and he cursed as she started to cry.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I choose not to divulge that information." Rachel said in a trembling voice, just heard over Evie's cries.

"Now you listen here you little _freak_," Coach Sylvester spat, moving to stand directly over Berry's chair. "You had better tell us all that we want to know or I'll – "

"You'll what?" A Mr Berry asked his voice low and dangerous.

"Rachel maybe you should tell us what you _are _willing to tell us," suggested Schue, speaking for the first time. Glancing round at Coach Sylvester and Berry's Dads, Puck figured that Schue's interruption was a good thing seeing as the three adults looked like they wanted to punch the crap out of each other.

Berry nodded at Mr Schue and started talking directly to him. Puck assumed that she found it easier to converse with the glee director rather than the Principal or cheerleading coach, he knew he fucking would. "When I helped Noah bring Evie home from the hospital I directed him to come here. I knew that he had limited monetary funds and thought that he was soon going to regret his decision to become a single parent, so I suggested that he borrow some baby supplies until he could afford to buy his own." She paused and Puck knew that this was the crunch time. The next admission was going to be the big one. Although Evie was seemingly trying to draw everyone's attention to her with her cries, he reached and hand over towards Berry and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him gratefully then returned her gaze to Mr Schue.

"I still have in my possession a key that Coach Sylvester gave me in order to prepare for the school's Cabaret production. She neglected to retrieve it from me when I quit." Puck looked at the cheerleading coach and was slightly worried that she looked like she'd spontaneously combust with anger. "I broke into the school, showed Noah the props room and we took what we needed."

Although the adults in the room were surely clever enough to realise that that's where the explanation was heading, there were still a number of gasps echoing around the room at the admission that _Rachel Berry_ had broken into a building and stolen numerous items. Sure, they fucking expected it of _him_, but Berry was a completely different matter.

Puck took a look around the room to gauge everyone's feelings. Mr Schue looked very disappointed in them, Coach Sylvester seemed strangely angry _and_ triumphant (which could _not_ be good), Figgins looked fairly pissed off and Berry's dads were staring at her like they'd never seen her before.

So, as stated before, they were in the shit.

"We were planning to bring it back when Noah could afford to buy his own but…we haven't got to that point yet." Berry continued.

"And the room?" Mr Schuester prompted.

"Well, when we discovered that Noah would only be granted limited paternity leave we had to find a way that Evie could be cared for while he attended afternoon classes. We could afford no day care and so we came up with a solution."

"Which was?" Schue asked but Berry's lips remained firmly closed. He turned his gaze towards Puck, "I don't suppose there's any chance that you're going to tell us?"

"Not a chance in hell, Mr Schue," Puck replied, proudly. He could see no way out of this shit storm for him and Berry but if they were able to keep their friends out of it then he reasoned that things weren't as bad as they could be. The gleeks didn't deserve to get in trouble for doing him a favour.

"They can't have been acting alone," Coach Sylvester pointed out. "I'll bet it was the rest of those glee kids. I've always said that club is a hotbed for criminal activity. I demand the expulsion of these students and the disbandment of glee club _immediately_!"

Half a dozen different voices started speaking at once, each fighting to be heard over the other, but, of course, Evie was the loudest.

"Order! Order!" Figgins bellowed, banging his hand on the desk like some sort of judge.

"Can't someone shut that little gremlin up?" Sue howled, "I think it's trying to call a bunch of mutants here to destroy us all."

"Are we really going to be expelled?" Berry asked in a small voice, completely ignoring Sue. "I know what we did was wrong but I was only trying to help Noah."

"Miss Berry you have committed a number of illegal acts," Principal Figgins informed her. "And your lack of cooperation does not help your situation."

"Rachel, sweetheart, are you sure you won't tell them about how you looked after Evie in the afternoons?" the Mr Berry with glasses implored.

Tears trickled down Berry's cheeks as she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Dad."

Puck clenched his teeth. There was no way he could let Berry get expelled because of trying to help him. "Look, we all know this is my fault. I'm the one with the baby, you should punish me and leave Berry out of it."

Berry gasped, "No, Noah!"

"We both know you've wanted to expel me since I first stepped into this joint," Puck said to Figgins, ignoring the way Berry was clutching at his arm.

"No! This is all _my _fault. I'm the one who broke into school, showed Noah where the baby things were located in the props room and modified the school's security cameras. I came up with the solution to watching Evie and I redecorated the room and changed the lock on the door. Noah was only a minor accomplice in my crimes." Berry finished, forlornly.

"Is there anything else either of you would like to add?" Figgins asked and to Puck the moment felt kinda like they were being asked for their last words before they were executed.

"No, wait, I deserve to take some of the blame for this," Mr Schuester said and Coach Sylvester rolled her eyes.

"Anyone else fancy stepping forward to take the blame? How about you, pygmy?" She sneered at the still bawling Evie. Puck moved his daughter further away from her, worried that merely being _near_ the cheerleading coach would somehow damage her.

"I knew something suspicious was going on a couple of weeks ago." Schue told Figgins. "A student informed me that they had seen Rachel with a baby in the choir room. I interviewed both Rachel and Puck – "

" – And you saw no reason to report this to the rest of us?" Sue scoffed.

"It's not Mr Schuester's fault," Berry explained. "We misled him into believing something that was incorrect."

"You lied to him." Figgins stated, flatly.

"No! We just twisted the truth. Noah and I made sure that nothing we said to Mr Schuester was a lie."

"I should've investigated more thoroughly and reported it to you," Mr Schue admitted to Figgins.

"I _knew_ glee club was the root of all evil!" Sue cried. "Disband the club, expel these two and call the police on these criminals!"

_Fuck_. Puck knew that he and Berry had kinda broken the law by breaking in to school and stealing and stuff, but he'd totally hoped that the cops weren't going to be involved in this.

"No!" Schue said forcefully. "Look, what they did was wrong, they know that, but they did it for good reasons. Can you imagine trying to bring up a kid at their age? Terri and I thought we'd struggle to make ends meet and that's with two incomes. Puck has nothing. What was he supposed to do to look after his daughter?" Coach Sylvester opened her mouth to make some smart reply but Mr Schue carried on before she could. "As educators, these kids' futures are in our hands. We can't cast them aside when they need us the most. They're _good_ kids, Figgins and I know they're capable of the most amazing things if you just give them another chance."

The room was silent as the Principal reached a decision that would affect the two teenager's lives forever. Even Evie seemed to sense the seriousness of the moment as she finally stopped crying. Berry reached over to grip his hand and he was so fucking nervous that he gripped hers back. Badass be damned; this was some terrifying shit.

"You can return the stolen property?" Principal Figgins asked the two teenagers.

Berry nodded. "Yes, Sir. Every last item."

"Fine. You're both suspended for two weeks; Mr Puckerman because he is a repeat offender and Miss Berry due to the seriousness of her first offence. At the end of the two weeks I expect all the borrowed items to be returned along with $3000 to be paid to the school for damages. I must insist you give me the key you possess before you leave and obviously Miss Puckerman is not to be on school grounds. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," they both replied, relieved that their punishment hadn't been too severe.

"What? That's _it_?" Coach Sylvester barked. "I demand justice for the crimes of these delinquents!"

"Sue, I have made my decision and that's _final_," Figgins snapped, hitting the desk to emphasise his point.

Berry rooted in her schoolbag for something and retrieved the set of keys that had been letting them into the school. She stood up and placed them on Figgins' desk. "Thank you, sir. We're sorry for what we did but we honestly didn't feel like we had any other choice."

"Yeah. Thanks, sir," Puck chipped in. "We really appreciate you not busting our asses too much."

"Eloquent as ever, Noah," Berry muttered.

"Just don't make me regret my leniency, children," Figgins warned, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

Puck and Berry turned around to be met with a livid Coach Sylvester. "You may have gotten off lightly this time, convicts, but when you get back from your suspension I will be on your asses, every hour of every day." Then she stormed off, slamming the door so hard on the way out that Puck was sure it was going to break.

"Er, maybe we'd better go before she comes back and tries to perform a citizen's arrest," Puck suggested and Berry nodded because, seriously, that was a real possibility.

They thanked Figgins once more before turning to Mr Schue. "Ah, maybe we'd better talk outside," the glee director suggested and Puck and all the Berrys complied.

As soon as they were in the main corridor Berry cried, "Thank you, Mr Schuester!" and somewhat inappropriately wrapped her arms around Mr Schue's middle. Schue glanced nervously at her Dads but they didn't seem upset or anything so he awkwardly patted her on the head.

"Yeah, you did us a proper solid in there, Mr Schue." Puck admitted, slapping the Spanish teacher gently on the back. "Thanks."

"I did what I could," he replied, carefully removing himself from Berry's embrace.

"We knew we shouldn't have misled you but we felt like we had no choice," Berry explained, looking like she was going to cry again.

"Yes, well, what's done is done." Schue shrugged. "There's no point dwelling on it. When you both return to school we'll draw a line under the whole affair and start anew."

The Mr Berrys both shook Schue's hand before he departed. "Come on kids," Hiram Berry said putting an arm around his daughter's shoulder, "let's go home."

* * *

Rachel felt really quite numb as she stepped into her home. Today had been the worst day of her life – worse even than coming second in the third grade talent show. First, she and Finn had broken up and now she, along with Noah, had been suspended for two weeks. She, _Rachel Berry_, had been _suspended_. Rachel had been perfectly aware that this was a possibility when she'd taken the baby supplies but somehow, she'd been sure that they'd get away with it.

She desperately wanted to disappear into her room and sob her heart out (like Evie appeared to be doing somewhere upstairs) but her Dads were standing in the hallway waiting for her and they looked rather angry. She looked at the floor and said quietly, "Dad, Daddy, I'm sorry that you had to come into school and, and see Principal Figgins about what I've done. But…I'm not wholly sorry for helping Noah. He and Evie needed me and I did what was necessary for them. Of course, I wish it hadn't involved any illegal activity…" she trailed off and risked a glance at their faces. Thankfully, they looked slightly less angry but she knew that they had by no means forgiven her.

"Why didn't you talk to us about this?" her Daddy demanded.

"I knew you'd make us give the things back and Noah couldn't afford that."

"Of course we'd make you give the stolen property back, Rachel." Her Dad sighed. "But we would've found a way to support Noah and Evie if you'd let us know there was a problem to begin with."

"We know you're getting older and beginning to become a young lady but, how are we supposed to trust you if you lie to us?" Daddy said, shaking his head slightly.

A couple of tears snaked down her face. She was normally quite a well behaved daughter and her parents hadn't had to tell her off this sternly in years. "Are you going to confiscate my musical collection?" she asked, referring to how they used to punish her.

She saw her Dad's lips twitch slightly but he spoke in a serious tone. "I think you're old enough now to realise that just reflecting on your actions and living with the consequences is worse than any punishment we can give you."

The words stung terribly and the disappointment in their expressions made her feel physically sick.

The doorbell rang and Rachel eagerly turned to answer it so that she wouldn't have to look at her Dads.

"Mrs Puckerman!" Rachel said in surprise upon seeing Noah's mother on the other side of the door. "Um, come in." Mrs Puckerman gave a tight nod and stepped inside. Rachel introduced her parents before heading upstairs to retrieve Noah.

Evie's cries had subsided by now but Rachel knocked gently on Noah's door in case the little girl was asleep. "Come in."

She peeped her head round the door and saw that he was just finishing changing Evie's diaper. "Your mother's here."

He looked up at her. "Shit. This is going to be messy." He gave a laugh containing no humour. "And we thought Coach Sylvester was tough…"

Mrs Puckerman listened to their story in silence, her face rigid. All she had to say at the end was, "I see." Rachel glanced at Noah nervously and he seemed to be surprised that she was taking this so calmly.

Noah's mother turned to Rachel's Dads. "I'm sorry that Noah's presence here has caused such trouble for you."

"Mrs Puckerman, this whole situation is _my_ fault," Rachel insisted. "It was all my idea."

"Nevertheless, I think it would be best if Noah and Evie moved back home with me and Jem." Mrs Puckerman replied.

Rachel gasped, a cold flush running through her body.

"That's really not necessary," Rachel's Daddy said.

"I think it would be better, for everyone." Mrs Puckerman said.

Now, Rachel didn't like to think unkindly of Noah's mother but she really couldn't understand how she'd come to that conclusion. Noah going back home most definitely wouldn't make things better for Evie, Noah or even Mrs Puckerman herself!

"Yeah, thanks for everything you've done, Mr Berrys," Noah shot a glance at her, "Rachel, but it's time I went home. You can have your quiet house back again."

Rachel opened her mouth and closed it again, not sure what to say.

"Are you sure, Noah?" her Dad asked. "You know yourself and Evie are more than welcome to stay for longer."

"Thanks, but I had to go home at some point. I've got the next couple of weeks to sort myself out."

"Well, you can't leave immediately," her Daddy pointed out. "Why don't you stay for dinner and then you can take some of Noah's things back with you afterwards. The rest of your belongings can go over the weekend."

"I need to pick up Jemima from a friend's house in a moment," Mrs Puckerman said.

"Bring her back here too." Mr Berry decided but Rachel had tuned the adults out in disbelief at the news that Noah and Evie were to leave her home. She wanted to cry and stamp her feet, demand that they stay, but it was Noah's choice and he probably _did_ want to go back to his own home to be with his family. Looking at him, she decided that he didn't look particularly happy at the idea but he could still be upset about the events of the day and the susp…no, she couldn't even bring herself to say the word.

"I'll go and start getting some stuff together," Noah mumbled before shuffling up the stairs.

"I'll give you a hand," Rachel called, her voice wavering slightly. She followed his soft footfalls into his and Evie's room.

Noah had sat on the bed, his head in his hands. When he noticed her presence he sat up straight and started looking around the room. "Huh, I think I'm gonna need some boxes from somewhere. I hadn't realised how much shit I'd managed to bring over here."

She was silent in response and eventually he looked her way. She blinked quickly to try and clear away the tears that were threatening to spill over her cheeks but, evidently, he saw them because he said, "Fuck, Berry, please don't cry. I'm really sorry about the suspension thing, I'll try and make it up to you."

"I'm not upset about that!" She cried and then shook her head slightly, "I mean, yes, I _am_ upset about that but that's… not what I'm," she gestured to herself, "for."

Comprehension dawned on his face. "Oh, well, aren't you glad you're going to be getting your quiet, normal life back? No 3am wake up calls from a baby who wants their feed, or, you know, not having the place stink of diapers or that baby smell…"

'Of course I still want all that!' She screamed inside her head but instead just shrugged.

"You don't need to worry about me, Berry. I'll find a way to make things work; I have so far, right?" He pointed out.

"But only because of me," she whispered so quietly that he didn't even hear her. Although she was sure that Noah would do everything in his power to be a good father to Evie, she couldn't help but feel that he wasn't going to be able to manage without her being there to support him.

"I'll still watch over Evie when you're at work, if you like," She offered and he smiled.

"Thanks, that'll be great. I think I'm still gonna need all the help I can get." He sounded exhausted and Rachel wasn't particularly surprised given how he was working his behind off at the moment. But looking into his eyes she could sense something else…Noah didn't want to go.

She didn't know how she knew – it was probably her sixth sense, but she was certain that it was true. But she was also sure that he was unlikely to admit that he didn't want to move back to his home. He was quite a proud young man and still had trouble asking for a arge amount of help. Plus, his _mother_ had suggested he come back – it would sound rather rude if he told her that he didn't want to.

"Um, I'll go see if we have any boxes," she suggested and turned out of his room. She wasn't _really_ going to hunt for boxes. She was going to convince the adults that Noah remaining in the Berry household _was_ the best thing for everyone until Noah had more money and child cover for Evie and, most importantly, when both he and Mrs Puckerman were ready.

There were no parents in the foyer anymore and she searched the house until she found her Dads in the kitchen preparing dinner for everyone.

"How's the packing coming along?" her Dad asked.

Rachel sighed, ignoring the question. "Daddies, do you think Noah can stay for longer?"

They looked at her in surprise. "Has he said that that's what he wants?"

"Well, not vocally, but I can tell from his body language that he doesn't want to leave."

"Rachel…" her Dad began.

"You know as well as I do that Noah's life is too hectic at the moment for just himself and his mother to cope with and she needs to look after Jem as well. They're not ready for this."

"If Noah's mother wants him to come home and Noah says that he wants to then there's not a lot we can do about it, is there?" Her Daddy pointed out.

"But if I managed to get them to change their minds then you wouldn't have a problem with it?" Rachel enquired.

"Of course not; we told the boy as much earlier." Her Dad said.

Rachel beamed and gave each of her Dads a hug. "Thank you! Right, where's Noah's mother?" she asked, eager to move onto phase two of her operation.

"She's picking up Jem," Her Daddy said as he turned around to slice some vegetables, "and then bringing her back here for dinner."

"Oh," Rachel sighed, put out that her operation would have to be stalled for a little while. "Well, I'll go tell Noah that he doesn't need to pack his things anymore." She bounded out of the kitchen and up the stairs and was appalled to find that she quite out of breath by the time she reached Noah's room. She was going to have to up her fitness regime immediately.

"You're…staying," she panted and Noah looked at her in confusion.

"Er, what?"

"My Dads and I think its best… that you and Evie remain here… for a little longer," she explained, still panting.

He sighed. "Look, Berry, I totally appreciate what you and your Dads have done but, you know, maybe it's time I started standing on my own two feet."

"Noah, do you honestly think you're ready for that?" she enquired, trying to get him to meet her gaze.

"I dunno…maybe," he mumbled.

"You visited your mother this morning, didn't you?" He nodded. "Did you moving back home come up in the conversation?"

"…Yeah."

"And what was said?"

He frowned at her. "I could see that my mom wasn't ready to have me and Evie back there. I told her I was happy here." He admitted.

"Are you?"

"What?"

"Are you happy here?"

"Yes."

"Noah, the suspe…," she swallowed and tried again, "the _suspension_ shouldn't change anything. Yes, we won't be attending school for two weeks but all that time will have to be spent preparing for our finals seeing as we will be sitting them on our first day back. Not to mention the fact that we need to raise $3000 dollars to give to the school _and_ buy Evie new baby things to replace the ones we need to give back to the props department. The timing is all wrong, Noah."

The tension vanished from Noah's body and he sank onto his bed again. "Fuck, Berry, you're right. My mom really shouldn't have to put up with this shit right now, not that your Dads deserve to put up with it either," he added on quickly, before lying back and covering his face with his hands. "My life is so fucking messed up right now," the words were muffled thanks to his hands.

Rachel picked the stirring Evie up from her cot and sat next to Noah with her. "I don't know, Noah." She said, softly. "I think your life could be a lot worse at the present." He spread his fingers slightly and peered through the gap at her and Evie. He sat up and pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead.

"Yeah, that's true." He acknowledged. "But you gotta admit that today's been a fucking shit-fest of a day."

She frowned at his language but nodded nonetheless. "Probably the worst of my life." First Finn, the suspension and then she'd nearly lost Noah and Evie too. She found it quite daunting how hard she'd been fighting to keep Noah in her life but she was glad. He was truly her closest friend.

They were silent for a while, just watching Evie play with Rachel's fingers.

"You can still make me watch a musical if you want," he said.

"I expect we'll have to stop the film when your Mom arrives with Jem." She informed him.

"Thank fuck! I don't think I'd be able to sit through one in a single sitting." He joked.

"And we need to tell your mother that you're staying. I hope she won't be too upset."

"I think she'll be relieved more than anything, Berry."

Rachel bit her lip and hoped so. She really didn't want to cause Mrs Puckerman any consternation. "Come on, we can watch 'Chicago' in my room."

"Chicago?"

"It's the musical I would like to watch. It's set in a women's prison and I think it's one that you will find least objectionable."

"Do any of these women get it on with each other?" Noah asked as he followed her into her room.

"No."

"Shame." Rachel rolled her eyes.

She set up the film and then settled onto the bed with Noah. They were silent as the various credits and trailers flashed by and an uneasy question settled itself in Rachel's brain.

"Noah?"

"Hmmm?" he replied.

"Where are we going to get around three and a half thousand dollars?"

"No fucking idea, B."

* * *

A/N The flow of writing stories is weird. Puck's pov was okay, the beginning of Rachel's was hard and the rest was supremely easy.

Anyway, next chapter starts a new story arc that I'm really excited about because I've been planning it for, like, a year!

Not sure when it'll be up because lucky old me is taking a trip to New York City on Saturday! SO excited and yet it doesn't feel at all real even though I got my dollars today. Those of you who have read my oneshot 'Aviophobia' may be aware that I have a somewhat bizarre fear of flying that's come out of nowhere so I'm not looking forward to that part…

So, yes, let me know what you guys thought of the chapter. I don't really know if Figgins is allowed to make Puck and Rachel give him damages without getting police/legal people involved.

Hope to hear from as many of you as possible!

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


	15. Finding a Solution

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N Happy belated Easter, guys!

Okay, so this was a much longer wait. There's no particular excuse; I just wasn't in the mood to write (and I wasn't when I was writing this, to be honest. I hope it doesn't show!) But love is in the air in the UK right now and I thought it was about time I got on with this!

Mega-thanks for all those who reviewed etc. I had a fabulous time in NYC. Seriously, it was AMAZING! Saw three things on Broadway and watched them filming 'New Years Eve' in Times' Square; we got to see the ball drop and everything! (Although didn't get to see Lea, which is fair enough because I would've exploded in excitement!)

Anyway, on with the fic.

* * *

Chapter 15 : Finding a Solution

"Okay, is someone going to tell us why we're all here already?" Santana snapped at the assembled glee club. "There's a waiter over there who needs to know what he's missing out on."

Puck saw Berry roll her eyes at the Latina but she started speaking nonetheless. "Very well. Thank you all for meeting us here this morning at such short notice. What Noah and I have to tell you isn't easy for us to say but we thought you should hear it from us first."

"Oh my God, you're knocked up!" Santana sneered. "Puckerman you _dog_!"

Mercedes shook her head slightly. "As if. She's going out with Finn remember."

"Didn't matter last time," Kurt said quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Puck had erupted into silent laughter at the outraged and embarrassed look on Berry's face.

"Um, Rachel and I aren't together anymore," Finn put in awkwardly.

"What?" half a dozen people yelled.

"Since when?"

"So she _is _pregnant."

"Puckerman strikes again."

"_I'm not pregnant!_" Berry screeched, blushing furiously as half the people in the diner looked in their direction. "And my relationship with Finn is none of your business," she added in a more reasonable tone.

Puck had finally managed to recover from the hilarity and decided that maybe he'd better input something into the conversation. This was both his and Berry's mess after all. "The school know about Evie."

The mirth dropped from all of their faces. "Don't worry, your involvement in Operation Babywatch was withheld from Figgins but, suffice to say, we're not going to be bringing Evie into school anymore." Berry said and then, at the request of the others, explained what had happened yesterday afternoon.

"You're both suspended?" Mike asked in disbelief when Berry had finished.

"We were fucking lucky not to be expelled," Puck admitted. Thank fuck Figgins hadn't given in to Sue Sylvester's demands.

"I can't believe you refused to tell them about the rest of us looking after Evie. My mom would've grounded me forever if I'd gotten suspended," Tina admitted.

The others echoed their thanks and Brittany hailed them as 'awesome secret keepers'.

"But where the hell are you going to get three thousand dollars from?" Santana asked bluntly.

"Truth be told, we need more than three thousand," Berry explained. "When Noah gives back the baby equipment he'll need to buy some out of his own pocket otherwise Evie won't have anywhere to sleep, we can't have her in the car as well as many other things she'll be lacking."

The mood amongst the teenagers was rather sombre as they realised that the suspension was the least of his and Berry's problems.

"Yeah, so if any of you have any good money making ideas, Berry and I would be very grateful if you could clue us in."

"Your cupcakes were a big hit earlier on in the year. Why don't you make more of them?" suggested Artie. The group smiled at the memory of Puck's 'special' cupcakes.

"No," Berry said forcefully. "Nothing illegal. That's how we got into this mess in the first place."

The group were quiet as they struggled to think of a way for them to make a lot of money in only two weeks – without telling people that the proceeds would be going to charity.

("Come on, Berry, I'm practically a charity case as it is!" "_No_, Noah,")

Puck looked at his watch and realised that he was going to be late for work. Luckily Burt was feeling better than he was yesterday – Puck needed to earn every dollar he could!

He bid the group and his sleeping daughter goodbye, telling Berry he'd see her later on.

As he drove to work he reflected again how glad he was that he was still staying at the Berrys' house. Things would've been an absolute nightmare if he'd moved back home because he'd always known that his mom wasn't ready for him to bring Evie back. But he'd stayed with Berry for about two months and he could barely look her dads in the eye after he'd helped get their daughter suspended (no matter how much she insisted it was entirely her own fault).

Telling his mom had been a pretty shitty conversation but he reminded her of their discussion that morning when she'd told him she wasn't capable of helping to look after Evie yet.

So now he and Berry just had to raise all this money, find some day care for Evie for when they went back to school and pass their finals in just over two weeks. Fucking hell…

* * *

Rachel Berry wasn't the type of girl to mope about and whine about her problems – she was a more proactive sort of person. So after she had left the rest of New Directions and arrived home she had quickly started researching ways of making money (even if her research was often interrupted by her need to look after Evie) and by the time she heard Noah arrive back from work she had a number of possibilities. However, she doubted that they'd raise anywhere near three thousand dollars, even if they did all of them.

There was a knock at her bedroom door and Rachel gave permission to enter. Noah came into her room and Rachel was surprised to see Kurt follow after him with a pale pink box in his arms. "A clothing update for Evie," Kurt explained seeing the questioning look on Rachel's face. "And, I've come to save both of your skins!" He looked very excited.

"He thinks he's found a way for us to make the money but he wanted to tell us both together." Puck explained, collapsing back on her bed, looking exhausted.

Rachel tried to keep herself from getting excited – she really didn't want to put her possessions up on eBay or sell her hair.

Kurt placed the box carefully to the side and then turned to address his tired/desperate audience. "I used to have a grandmother who lived in Illinois and every year she'd take me to a singing competition that was held in Chicago. I haven't been since she died a few years ago. I didn't mention it before because I wasn't sure that it was still being held but I checked online and it is! You're just in time too – it starts on Friday."

Rachel blinked a couple of times. "Hold on a minute; as much as I love to showcase my singing talent, the important thing here is that we are able to make some money…"

"The prize for coming first is ten thousand dollars." Kurt said, grinning. Rachel's mouth fell open.

"Fuck me sideways," Noah breathed, also staring at the other boy in surprise.

_Ten thousand dollars._ It was three times the amount they needed. Of course, it wouldn't be handed to them on a plate – Rachel or Noah would have to win first but they were both more than capable singers and with two of them in the competition they'd have twice the chance of winning.

"Is there a particular genre or style of music that we'd need to pick songs from?" Rachel queried rapidly. "How do we enter? What's the judging system? Is there a runners-up prize? Can Noah and I both enter separately? Is there an entrance fee?"

"Shit, Berry, take a breath before you blow a fuse," Noah said, his eyes wide at the stream of questions pouring from her mouth.

"How have I never heard of this competition?" she cried at Kurt, finally pausing to give him time to answer.

Kurt smiled daintily and brushed some hair from his forehead. "Perhaps I should tell you more about the origins of the event." He looked pointedly at the bed and Rachel sat down after she'd wandered about the room drilling off her questions. "The first competition took place in 1951 – "

"_1951?_" Rachel exclaimed in surprise and then apologised as Kurt was looking quite scandalised that he'd been interrupted.

"Yes, 1951. A couple, Rita and Gerald Barker founded it. The date had some sort of significant meaning to them, I can't really remember why. Anyway, the first event was a somewhat low-key affair just a bit of entertainment held amongst friends but they all enjoyed it so much that they decided to do the competition again the next year and the year after that and the year after that and this year will mark the sixtieth year of the event. Over time it gained popularity within the community and further field. The entrants came from towns and states that were farther away and the prize money increased as local businesses contributed and benefits were held throughout the Chicago area over the year and apparently Mr and Mrs Barker do a lot of charitable work too."

"What? They're still alive?" Noah asked and Rachel elbowed him in the ribs to make him stop talking. He glared at her but she just put a finger to her lips and turned back.

"As far as I know they're still alive and kicking," Kurt shrugged. "They were when I went with my grandmother and there was nothing on the website to indicate that they were dead."

"They must be pretty fucking old," Noah mumbled and Rachel was about to inflict pain upon him again but he held up his hands in surrender, "Chillax, Berry. I'll shut up."

"The competition take place over three days and there are two singing rounds on each day. The auditions take place on Friday morning and only 18 entrants get to go through to the first round. The audience vote for who they want to go through to the next round and the three acts who have the least votes don't progress to the next stage until eventually there are only three left in the final round."

Rachel felt slightly uneasy at the prospect of having an audience decide of the winner; she was used to qualified judges determining who was to be triumphant. What did the general public know of vocal talent?

"Over the years there have been various themes to the competition," Rachel dismissed her thoughts and focused on Kurt, anxious not to miss a single detail about what could be their salvation, "and due to this being the 60th time the competition has taken place Mr and Mrs Barker have decreed that each round must feature a song from each decade the event has been held in. The first round has to have songs from the noughties, the second from the nineties and so on until you're singing from the fifties in the final round."

Song possibilities whizzed through Rachel's brain, trying to catalogue the decade in which they'd originated. Through her song-fuzzy brain she could see that Kurt was biting his lip slightly and Rachel knew that he wouldn't be purposely causing harm to his looks so he must be doing it unconsciously and her suspicions grew.

"What are you telling us?" she demanded. The hopes of them raising money that she'd been trying to supress began to diminish. She should've known that all this was too good to be true.

Kurt sighed but there was a slight glint in his eye. "You and Puck won't be able to enter separately."

"Shit." Noah swore and Rachel had to admit that it was a shame. "You'll have to do it for both of us, Berry. You've got a helluva better chance of winning this thing than I have. Besides, this sort of thing's like crack to you anyway."

"No, you don't understand," Kurt said before Rachel could make a response. "It's a competition for couples. You two will have to become a couple again."

Rachel let out a nervous laugh. "You're joking, right? Please tell me that you're joking."

Kurt shook his head. "The competition has _always_ been for people involved in a romantic relationship. It used to be for just engaged or married heterosexual couples but that was deemed too discriminatory in the seventies so now you don't have to be straight or in a particularly long standing relationship to be eligible to enter."

"But we're _not_ a couple," Noah pointed out.

"Says who? If you two say that you're involved then who are the event organisers to argue against you – as long as you put in a convincing performance of liking each other of course."

Rachel bit her lip. She supposed that _technically_ Kurt was right in that it would be difficult for anyone to prove that she and Noah weren't a couple if they embraced their 'roles' as boyfriend and girlfriend. It wasn't the idea of pretending to be Noah's girlfriend that was particularly off-putting; she was sure that they could perform their roles well seeing as they had been an item (however briefly) at one point. She hadn't thought of him in a romantic frame of mind for a while but there was no denying that he was an attractive man.

No, it was more that she'd feel guilty for lying to everyone involved in the competition. The lines between doing what was right and what was necessary were very blurred – just like they had been when they'd taken the school supplies for Evie. Rachel didn't think they'd be doing anything illegal by becoming a fake couple but they had to be carrying out some form of fraud.

"What d'you think, B?" Noah was watching her closely but she couldn't tell from his expression what _he_ thought about this new slant on the competition.

"If we do this and we don't win then we're worse off than where we are now seeing as we'd have lost time to earn some money and we'll have to pay for transport and a couple of night's accommodation."

"Second place gets three grand and third gets seven hundred and fifty dollars." Kurt informed them, "So as long as you get in the top three then you'll ensure you get some money from this."

"I suppose that's not so bad." Rachel considered and then asked Noah about the more pressing issue. "What of the lie about us being in a relationship? Does it bother you?"

He grinned. "Hey, Berry, d'you wanna be my girl?"

Despite herself, Rachel felt her cheeks warming. "Noah, it's not the same and you know it…" she paused but he didn't seem like he was going to take his offer back. This competition really was their best shot at paying the school back without having to beg their parents (something both of them had been vehemently against). She sighed "… but, I suppose, for appearances' sakes, yes, Noah, I'll 'be your girl'."

Her new boyfriend grinned at her. "Awesome!" He held up a hand and she laughed slightly as she hit it with her own.

"Um, guys, you might want to work on the affection levels because that was, quite frankly, _pathetic_," Kurt pointed out.

"Dude, we just didn't want to embarrass you with an epic, hot-Jew make-out session." Noah explained and Rachel felt her cheeks warming again.

To change the topic of conversation slightly she stood up and moved towards Kurt. "Thanks for telling us about the competition, Kurt." She gave him a quick hug.

"Yeah, we would've been totally screwed if it weren't for you," Noah agreed. "If there's anything we can do for you, just let us know."

"I want in," Kurt replied instantly.

There was a pause.

"I know you said there can be gay couples in this thing," Noah said, "but a threesome? I don't think they'd buy that."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "No, I don't want to sing with you, I just want to come to Chicago too. I'll help you get prepared and sort your costumes for you and you're going to need someone to look after Evie, anyway."

"Won't your Dad mind you missing a day off school?" Rachel enquired. She knew that having Kurt with them would help immensely but she didn't want him to get in trouble with his father for them.

"I can handle my Dad," Kurt answered.

"Er, speaking of which, I need to get the time off work…" Noah pointed out.

Kurt raised a perfectly manicured hand. "I'll take care of it."

Noah grinned. "Thanks, dude." Kurt shrugged.

"Okay," Rachel breathed. "Okay, so it seems like we're actually going to be doing this. First things first; let's find some music!"

* * *

The following days passed in a blur of songs, melodies, harmonies, dance routines, disagreements and outfit suggestions.

"The trick is to find a song that makes you stand out from the rest of the couples," Kurt explained, "but that suits both of your voices and is a song the audience will still relate to and like. You don't want to be too obscure. You also want to try and cover a range of different styles to show how diverse you can be."

Puck and Rachel didn't quite have the same music tastes and they often bickered over the song choices. (_"No, _Noah. I don't care how sexually appealing you think you are – we are _not_ doing 'I'm Too Sexy' for the nineties round." "I swear to God, Berry, if you even mention 'Abba' again I will legitimately suffocate myself with one of your cushions.")

They messaged their friends in glee club requesting their favourite songs from the different decades and Kurt researched the popular songs of those decades on the internet, looking for a perfect song that they might have missed in their search.

Finally, in the late hours of Sunday evening, Rachel and Puck had managed to come up with two songs for each round that they both agreed on.

During the day on Monday and Tuesday Puck worked full time with Burt to make up the hours that he was going to be taking off later in the week. Rachel spent her time arranging the music, caring for Evie and squeezing in the odd hour of studying for her finals. When Puck got home from work they worked on the songs together until they were both utterly exhausted.

They told their parents that they were entering a singing competition in Chicago to pay back the school – they just failed to mention that they would have to pretend to be involved in a romantic relationship. Puck and Rachel both felt guilty for the lie of omission but they desperately needed this money and were determined that nothing would stop them from achieving their goal of getting through to the final round of the competition. Rachel's dads in fact said that they were proud of her for putting her talent to use and finding a solution to the problems that she had created. She tried not to let her discomfort at her deceit show. She doubted that they would be so thrilled if they knew she was lying in order to take part in the competition…

Wednesday was a mixture of rehearsing and studying as they didn't want to lose their voices from over-practicing and, also, they needed to make sure that they passed those all-important end of year exams.

On Wednesday evening they gathered together the rest of New Directions and informed the club why they had requested the different music tracks from them.

"So you're entering it together?" Matt asked. "I suppose that makes sense; there's strength in numbers, after all." A few others nodded and Puck noticed Kurt grinning like a Cheshire cat out of the corner of his eye. _Little fucker_. He was sure that Kurt was enjoying that he and Berry had to put on their 'couple' thing for Chicago.

"Well, actually, performing together is a stipulation for the competition." Berry explained to the group.

"Stipu – _what?"_ wondered Finn.

"Noah and I…we…" words, perhaps for the first time, seemed to fail Berry as she looked into Finn's eyes and Puck realised that having her ex-boyfriend here might make this a little awkward. Ah, screw it.

"Berry and I are going out." He stated simply.

"For the sake of the competition," Berry quickly added. "Only couples can enter the competition."

There were a variety of reactions to this explanation; Finn was looking hurt (the pussy), Brittany was looking blissfully ignorant as per usual, Santana looked somewhere between angry and amused and the rest of them looked like they thought this was hilarious.

"So you have to convince everyone in Chicago that you're together?" Mercedes clarified and they both nodded, causing most of the room to erupt into laughter.

"What the fuck's so funny?" Puck growled. "Berry and I've been out before."

"Yeah, and that was the most farcical relationship in McKinley history." Santana spat. "It only lasted, like, a week and you were both doing it to make other people jealous."

Puck frowned. Actually, he'd been in the relationship to make his mom/God happy and if it had made Quinn a tiny bit jealous then that had been an added bonus. Berry though? He knew Berry had done it to make Finn jealous and for some reason that acknowledgement always stung slightly.

"Yes, well, we're only pretending this time, anyway." Berry retorted, "As long as the audience believe that we're together then that's all that matters – they decide who wins."

"You two don't look like you're boyfriend and girlfriend." It seemed that Brittany had finally caught on to what they were talking about. "You're not even touching each other."

Puck and Berry glanced at each other. "But we're not pretending this fucking second." Puck defended.

"But you should start practising," Kurt suggested. "You'll need to keep up the pretence for possibly three days. You never know when someone will be watching the way you act towards each other. The more familiar you are around each other the better."

Puck was suddenly aware that Berry had moved closer to him and she reached out for his hand and he let her take it. Her small hand was warm against his cold one. There were some snorts of laughter and a catcall from Artie.

"How vulgar," Santana sniped, rolling her eyes.

"It's weird trying to do this stuff in front of all of you," Berry protested. "And it's not fair to do this in front of Finn."

"I don't care," Finn said stiffly. Puck thought it looked like he was going to snap in half, he was standing that tensely. "You're only pretending, after all."

"Yeah, and if you can pretend in front of us then you'll have no problem faking it in front of a bunch of strangers." Tina added.

Berry cleared her throat. "Anyway, the reason that Noah and I asked you here was so that we could perform our song selections for you. We have two for each round and we'd appreciate your opinion on which one we should chose should we get through the competition and any other advice you can give us."

"You guys have to keep in role the whole time though, even in the gaps between songs." Kurt said. "You _need_ to practice this."

Berry sighed. "I suppose you're right. Noah?"

He shrugged. "Practice makes perfect." He frowned. That _so_ sounded like something that she would say.

She bit her lip and then quickly kissed him on the cheek before getting into her starting position for the first song. He quickly moved too, so that he wouldn't look like some sort of idiot and willed himself to get into role.

The songs went by, each one earning applause from the gleeks, and they discussed the pros and cons of the various songs, gradually picking a preferred one for each decade.

Getting 'into role' however, was much harder than Puck initially thought it would be. He was so aware of the group watching his every move whenever he made contact with Berry and he had to fight the urge to laugh when he had to sing into her eyes because he could just tell that that's what the rest of them wanted to do. Having Finn there really didn't help either. Puck knew that his best friend wasn't finding their performances comfortable viewing but he really needed that money, whether it pissed his best friend off or not.

"So, what do you all think?" Berry asked once all the songs had been sung and discussed.

"Vocally, the songs sound good, really good…" Artie began.

"I just don't buy it between you." Mike said, frowning. "There's no emotion between you two and these songs are, like, all about love."

"But is it because you know us and you're aware we're pretending?" Berry demanded.

Mike shrugged. "I don't know."

"I think you just need more practice," Tina suggested.

"We've got less than two fucking days!" Puck pointed out.

"Then you're going to have to stay in character as much as possible," Kurt replied.

"You didn't even kiss. People in love are supposed to kiss." Brittany stated petulantly, as though she'd been denied something.

"She makes a good point," Santana shrugged. "You're teenagers and you're supposed to be in love. Everyone should think that you're at it like rabbits – that's what they'd expect of you. You know, 'young love' and all that bullshit. You should be hot towards each other but you're stone cold. It's like you don't think the other one's fuck-worthy."

Puck and Berry made stuttering remarks that each thought the other was attractive and Brittany shouted. "Kiss already! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

The others took up the chant (except for Finn) and Berry opened her mouth to respond, closed it again, stamped her foot slightly, then grabbed Puck's head and brought their lips together.

Puck was only vaguely aware of the group cheering and whistling. He was much more concerned with the lips moving so softly against his own. It had been _months_ since he'd last made out with a girl and he was eager to make the most of this opportunity. He pushed aside the weird thoughts that he was kissing Berry, one of his best friends, and let himself _feel_ instead of think; his blood pumping around his body, the smooth skin of her cheek as he brushed his hand against it, the tingling that raced down his spine as her fingers traced the back of his head, the rapid beat of her pulse as he brought the hand against her neck, the silky strands of her hair sliding through his fingers. It was all so familiar, even though it had been just over six months since he'd last kissed her.

They pulled apart and it was like the sound had suddenly been put back to full volume. The gleeks (again, except Finn, of course) were laughing and cheering and he couldn't resist a grin of his own. Even Berry was smiling shyly and he was suddenly reminded just how hot Rachel Berry could be and how awesome making it with her was. It wasn't the worst thing in the world to rediscover, especially when he would be being her boyfriend for another four days.

He slung an arm around her waist and brought the blushing Berry closer against him. "Chicago, here we come!"

* * *

A/N So, obviously, this whole competition is something completely made up, but, meh, it seemed like a fun idea. I hope I explained it all right. If you have any questions I'll answer them next time round.

I do have songs in mind that they could use in the competition (if they get through the auditions of course!) but if you have any in particular that you think would be good then please let me know. I've changed my mind on the songs a few times so if I see something better than what I've got then I'll be happy to change it!

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter! Hopefully I'll get into a writing mood again (Who knows, maybe Will and Kate will inspire me! Lol!).

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	16. Audition

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N Hello! You want an update? Here you go!

Thanks for your reviews/alerts/favourites.

* * *

Chapter 16 : Audition

"Names?"

"Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman." Rachel supplied to the kindly looking woman sitting behind the registration table for the singing competition. The fingers of Rachel's right hand were laced through Noah's left and she knew she was gripping his hand quite hard but she was too nervous to loosen her hold.

"You're audition couple number fourteen," the woman informed them, handing over a clipboard and questionnaire. "If you could fill this in while you wait to be called – it just provides the organisers with a bit of information about you both should you be put forward into the main competition."

"Sure," Noah replied, "Come on, babe, let's go fill this out." Rachel still felt her stomach feel light and her cheeks warm whenever she heard Noah call her by a term of endearment.

There was a large amount of chairs beyond the woman's table where other couples were waiting to be called for their audition. Rachel tried to surreptitiously check out the competition and she knew that the others would be doing the same. She looked over her shoulder and could see a long line of people waiting to be given an audition number. The variety of ages, races and sexual orientations in the room was clear and Rachel couldn't believe that this had all stemmed from a small contest a young couple had held between their friends fifty years ago. There were even a couple of television cameras being set up! The competition was much bigger than she had expected. And it was taking place in the Harris Theatre in Millennium Park – where the Chicago Film Festival was held! She shivered slightly with nervous excitement.

Noah led them over to a couple of vacant seats and Rachel located a pen in her purse to fill in the form. She assessed their seating situation and realised that they weren't being affectionate enough to each other.

"Put your arm around me," she whispered urgently to Noah and he quickly followed her order, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her a little closer. He dropped an awkward kiss onto her forehead for added measure and Rachel tried to not let her consternation at the obvious falseness of their relationship show.

A set of doors in the room opened with an audible clang and everyone looked in that direction. A middle aged man stepped out and looked excitedly upon the couples. "We're ready for couple number one," he announced.

A man and a woman of around thirty years of age got to their feet and sauntered over to the man, looking completely unruffled. Rachel had been to so many auditions and competitions that she was quite used to feeling nervous but the anxiety she felt today was far beyond anything she'd felt before. There was just so much at stake for herself and Noah…

The door banged shut behind the first contestants and nervous conversations rippled throughout the room.

"I suppose we'd better fill this shit in then," Noah muttered and Rachel swallowed nervously.

"Yes, it'll give us something to do while we wait for our turn. It might take them some time to get to us; we are fourteenth after all."

The first few questions were just about their names, dates of birth, addresses and contact numbers and were easy enough to answer. The next question asked for some background information on their relationship.

Rachel flinched as the third couple went through for their audition, the doors still banging closed. "What do you think we should put?" she asked quietly so that no one would overhear them.

"Well, we said we'd be as honest as possible," Noah shrugged, the motion causing her to be pulled closer towards him slightly.

"So, we first started going out in the fall?" Rachel suggested.

He nodded. "That _is_ true. We're not lying there."

Rachel bit her lip. "We just won't say that we broke up after a week." She whispered.

"Exactly."

"I'll put something in about how caring for Evie together has brought us even closer."

"Are you going to say that she's yours?" He queried.

"Of course not! That's a deception too far, Noah." She chastised.

He held up his hands defensively. "I was just fucking wondering, Berry, er, baby." He corrected, frowning.

She sighed. The next few days were going to be hard work – providing they got through the audition to begin with.

She wrote a few lines about their budding relationship and tried to make the fact that they were bringing up Noah's baby with another girl not a big deal. There was no point hiding the fact that Evie was a part of their family because the little girl was going to be around them for pretty much the whole weekend. She was with Kurt right now, being pushed around the Park. Evie had not had the best night's sleep and Rachel wondered whether it was because it was the first time that she had slept somewhere other than the room she shared with Noah. Their room in the cheap hotel that they were staying at was certainly cramped with herself, Noah, Kurt, Evie and all their luggage with them. Kurt had been less than impressed with the screeching baby throughout the night but Noah had been quick to remind him that he'd demanded that they bring him with them.

The next question wanted their choice of song for each round and Rachel carefully penned in the titles and artist names of the songs they had picked.

"There. All done." She announced when their fifties song had been written. She placed the pen back and held the clipboard rigidly. She wished she hadn't finished so quickly as she had nothing to distract herself with now. She drummed her fingers nervously on her leg and went through the lyrics of the audition song, humming the tune quietly.

"Hey," Noah said softly, kissing her head, "relax. You're just going to freak yourself out."

"But there are so many couples!" Rachel exclaimed. "What if they're all amazing?"

"I don't know _anyone_ who's got a better voice than you, Rach. We're going to kick everyone's asses."

She smiled at him and resisted the very strong urge she had to yawn. She was _so_ tired. All the sleepless nights worrying about this competition and then how unsettled Evie was last night (not to mention that it was only half seven in the morning), had worked her into a state of near exhaustion. And the competition hadn't even started yet!

She rested her head on Noah's chest, wrapping her arms around his middle.

She could get used to this; having someone to lean on. This level of PDA she could handle – it was the more intimate kind she had an issue with. She frowned as she remembered Santana's insistence that they should look like they constantly wanted to have sex with each other. Not _all_ couples their age engaged in physical intimacy. Love didn't have to mean sex. She rolled her eyes at herself. This thought process was bizarre. She wasn't even really going out with Noah!

The couples kept disappearing through the doors and Rachel could finally see an end to the line of applicants. She estimated that there were about forty couples auditioning for only eighteen places in the main event. That was a less than fifty per cent chance of getting through…

Couple number twelve went through the doors and Rachel extricated herself from Noah's embrace and pulled him to his feet so that they could warm up their bodies and voices before they were called.

Couple thirteen were called.

Rachel took a sip of water, instantly wishing that she'd gone to the bathroom earlier on.

But it was too late.

"Number fourteen?" The same man called. Noah grabbed her hand and they walked towards the door. She tried to look as unfazed as some of the other people but she doubted that she pulled the look off.

The man smiled warmly at them as they stepped through. "This way," he beckoned and Rachel and Noah followed him down a corridor and through a door to the backstage. They could hear a couple singing 'I'm a Believer' somewhere on the stage. "Do you have your music?" the man whispered. Rachel nodded and handed over a CD.

"Track one," she instructed.

"Cool." He replied. "You're on after these two are finished."

Noah turned his neck from side to side, clicking it and Rachel scrunched up her nose but said nothing. She knew he was just trying to get relaxed, she just wished she could do the same.

The preceding couple finished the song (on a slightly out of tune note, which Rachel was ashamedly pleased about) then they appeared, retrieving their CD and handing over the microphones to Rachel and Noah.

"Okay, you're on." The unnamed guy said.

Rachel gripped Noah's hand tightly and then they walked onto the stage together.

The lights were almost blinding and it took a couple of seconds for her eyes to get used to the glare before she could see a half dozen people sitting in the audience seats.

"Hello, give us your names and what you'll be singing, please." Called a lady with dirty-blonde curly hair.

"Hi, my name's Rachel Berry,"

"I'm Noah Puckerman and we're singing 'Always' by Bon Jovi. Well, a short version, because otherwise we'll be here for about five minutes."

The people laughed and Rachel found herself relaxing. She was on stage, where she belonged and she was going to be singing with her best friend. There was nothing to worry about really.

Noah nodded to the guy off stage to play the music and then he turned back to her with a grin. She knew that he felt it too – that being on stage was just where he belonged. He probably didn't feel it as keenly as she did but it was there within him, she just knew it.

The drums kicked in and Noah took a breath to get their audition under way.

_This Romeo is bleeding, but you can't see his blood,__  
__It's nothing but some feelings__,__  
__That this old dog kicked up__,_

Noah sounded amazing. His voice was actually causing her skin to show Goosebumps. They weren't doing any fancy dance routine or actions because it didn't really fit the song. They were just standing together and now it was Rachel's turn to carry on the verse.

_It's been raining since you left me__,__  
__Now I'm drowning in the flood,__  
__You see I've always been a fighter,__  
__But without you I give up,_

It was such a relief to finally be able to sing and despite the sombre mood of the song, Rachel wanted to grin as Noah took over again._  
_

_Now I can't sing a love song,__  
__Like the way it's meant to be,__  
__Well, I guess I'm not that good anymore,__  
__But baby, that's just me__,_

_Yeah I, will love you, baby,__  
__Always and I'll be there,__  
__Forever and a day, always,_

Noah squeezed her hand and she needed absolutely no invitation to join in the singing with him.

_I'll be there, 'til the stars don't shine,__  
__'Til the heavens burst and the words don't rhyme,__  
__I know when I die you'll be on my mind,__  
__and I'll love you, always,_

They swapped turns for the second verse; Rachel started, Puck took over and then it was Rachel again. 

_Now your pictures that you left behind,__  
__Are just memories of a different life,__  
__Some that made us laugh,__  
__Some that made us cry,__  
__One that made you have to say goodbye,_

_What I'd give to run my fingers through your hair,__  
__Touch your lips, to hold you near,__  
__When you say your prayers, try to understand,__  
__I've made mistakes, I'm just a man,_

_When she holds you close, when she pulls you near,__  
__When she says the words,__  
__You've been needing to hear, I'll wish I was her,__  
__'Cause these words are mine, to say to you__,__  
__'Til the end of time, _

_Yeah I, will love you, baby,__  
__Always and I'll be there,__  
__Forever and a day, always,_

Rachel was actually quite sad that they were coming to the end of the song. She and Noah sounded incredible (even if she did say so herself) as he joined her on the last part.

_I'll be there, 'til the stars don't shine,__  
__'Til the heavens burst and the words don't rhyme,__  
__I know when I die you'll be on my mind,__  
__and I'll love you, always._

The music on the CD faded away, leaving Rachel and Noah grinning at each other. The people in the audience clapped and Rachel turned her smile towards them.

"Well done," the same woman who spoke before congratulated them. "We hope to be announcing the final eighteen around midday so make sure you are back in the foyer around that time."

"No problem. Thank you for your time," Rachel said sweetly before she and Noah walked off the stage.

They handed their microphones over to the rather green looking couple waiting and then took their CD back. "You two sounded really great," he complimented and Rachel nearly burst with happiness. "I wouldn't be surprised to see you back here this afternoon."

"Thanks, we certainly hope so." Noah said, pulling Rachel into a one armed hug.

"To get out you exit from the door we came through and then go right down the corridor. There are signs showing the way." He explained.

They thanked him and made their way out into the bright Chicago sunshine. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of them – they'd done everything they could so far and now it was just up to the judges.

"I told you we'd kick ass," Noah scoffed.

"I know, you were right but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves – we don't know how good all the other couples are yet." Rachel pointed out as she looked for her cell. "Let me just phone Kurt to find out where he is."

Kurt and Evie were in Lurie Garden and a after a brisk walk they were soon reunited.

"Now don't keep me in suspense any longer!" Kurt cried as they sat next to him on the bench. "How did it go? Do you know if you're through?"

"They're going to announce the finalists at around midday." Rachel answered as Noah fussed over his daughter.

Kurt's face fell. "But that's still three hours away!"

"Well that's how many couples there were." Rachel shrugged.

"Do you think you did well though?" he asked. She knew that he was just as anxious as they were for them to get through but that was more so that his outfits and styling could be put to use.

"We rocked." Was Noah's contribution to the conversation.

"I thought we sang very well," Rachel elaborated to Kurt. "I don't recall hearing anything out of tune."

"I think it was a good choice of song to show of your vocal abilities," Kurt said, "but you were right to reject it from your 90s choices – although it's about love it's about a relationship that's failed which is not something that's particularly promoted this weekend."

"Exactly, that's why it was removed from consideration." Rachel yawned, unable to stop herself.

"You can get some coffee over there," Kurt pointed behind them over the street.

"Thanks, I think I need one. Noah?"

"Yeah, let's go. Then I want to come back and check out the spitting fountain thing and that big shiny blob."

"You mean Crown Fountain and Cloud Gate?" Kurt asked.

Noah shrugged. "That's what I said."

They spent the next couple of hours exploring Millennium Park and its attractions; splashing each other with the water at Crown Fountain (which was only stopped when Kurt screeched that he'd dye all of their clothes if they got his hair wet), taking photos of their distorted reflections at Cloud Gate, walking along the slightly strange pedestrian bridge (and then straight back again) and checking out the roof of the Pavilion.

Evie then started wailing so they had to find somewhere to feed and change her and they took the opportunity to grab some food. Rachel checked her watch, it was nearly half eleven.

"I think we should go back." She announced. "They said 'around midday' so they could be posting it very soon." Her stomach started twisting into knots again and she wished she hadn't just eaten. They gathered their things and Noah carried a near-sleeping Evie in his arms back to the theatre.

The foyer was absolutely crammed with hopeful couples and they had to push their way through to eventually find a bit of floor space where they could stand comfortably together. Rachel saw a few people look their way, taking in their obvious youth and Evie, and their gazes would turn judgemental. She felt her cheeks glow with anger. Obviously, Evie wasn't her baby even though the other couples didn't know that, but they had no right to judge herself and Noah – people were allowed to make mistakes and quite honestly, Rachel thought that Evie was the best 'mistake' Noah had ever made. However, there were also couples that looked over at Evie with interest the way that babies were often a subject of curiosity and they'd smile at the sleeping little girl.

The minutes ticked by slowly, the crowd would go quiet, then conversations would start and then a hush would descend again in a never-ending cycle.

"Uh, this is killing me!" Kurt moaned. "It's much worse than the wait at regionals."

No sooner had the words left his mouth then the level of noise rose steeply and everyone started pushing in one direction.

"The list must be up," Noah muttered. Rachel could see that he looked much more anxious than before they'd sung. He obviously wasn't so confident that they'd get through after all. "I can't go and look like this," he said, motioning to Evie still asleep in his arms. "Rach, you go."

She shook her head. "No, I don't want to look without you. Kurt, you go."

"Okay!" he replied. "Good luck!" he squeezed their arms, turned and soon disappeared into the melee. Rachel could hear shouts of joy, angry exclamations, groans of disappointment and a couple of people sobbing. She strained her ears for any sound of Kurt's distinctive voice.

"Look, Rachel," she turned to look at Noah, who was gazing at her seriously. "I just want to say whether we get through or not, that you've been fucking amazing; getting us ready for this competition, using your savings to book us into that hotel, helping me with all this Evie stuff. Thank you."

She grinned. "You're more than welcome, Noah; you and Evie are very important to me." She leaned up very carefully to give them both a gentle hug and that's when she heard Kurt.

"You've done it!" His voice was yelling from somewhere. "You're through!"

* * *

A/N Sorry it's short – it's just because it's sort of an introductory chapter before the main competition starts. They should be back to their normal sort of length next time round. As mentioned above, the song they sing is 'Always' by Bon Jovi (I love that song!).

There's no point in me estimating when the next chapter's going to be out because I honestly have no idea. I think the amount of Finchel on the show is starting to affect me! I didn't used to mind it but it's just getting really boring now. I love how they've built up the Puck/Rachel friendship (that had better lead to something more!) and Rachel and Kurt are just too cute now they're friends. LOVE them! Anyway, I'm off to the Glee concert in London today so hopefully that'll make me glee-crazy for a few days and get me writing some more. Fingers crossed.

Thank you for reading!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	17. Friend or Foe?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

A/N So this was a later update than I was hoping for but at least it's here now, right?

The Glee concert was incredible for those who asked and I had a fab time, thank you. I have to say that I majorly teared up when they started to play!

Thank you lots and lots for your reviews and alerts and favourites!

Let's get on with it shall we?

* * *

Chapter 17: Friend or Foe?

There were fifteen minutes until the competition was due to start and the organisers had gathered all the contestants in a room. It had been a whirlwind few hours since Puck and Rachel had been told they'd made it through to the main event. They'd had photos taken of them for the event programme and balloting papers, they'd met a couple of the organisers so they could find out a little about them and they'd been given ten minutes to run through their first two songs on the stage. This was, of course, no guarantee that they'd make it through to the 90s round but it was such a quick turnaround between rounds one and two that there was no chance they'd be able to prepare should they indeed be successful. Puck was pretty happy with how their rehearsals had gone; there'd been no real problems, it was just a matter of getting used to the stage area but their frequent performances in McKinley's auditorium had ensured that wasn't an issue.

He and Berry were to be the fifteenth couple to perform and she told him that this was a pretty good slot as they would be relatively fresh in the audience's memory when they came to vote. He hoped she was right – they needed all the fucking votes they could get! During the rehearsal times they'd managed to hear some of the other couples and crap, shit and fuck were some of them good! Possibly not as good as he and Berry but there was a chance he was slightly biased. He was also kinda worried about the audience's opinion of them as a couple when you counted Evie into the situation. Would they turn their stuck up noses at them? Fucking snobs.

Looking and acting the way that he did he knew that most adults thought of him as some no-good, screw up delinquent (some old lady had called him that in the 7-11 once, he didn't really know what it meant but he was pretty sure he'd used it in the right context). He wasn't ashamed of Evie in the slightest – she was the best thing that had ever happened to him, but they needed this money so godammed bad and the audience's opinion of them meant _everything_ in this contest. But Rachel and he had agreed that it would be best to be as honest as possible in this thing and that included admitted that he was a teenage father (by another girl). They were just going to have to be as fucking charming as possible so that the audience would adore them and remember what it was like to be young and in love. He was going to have to leave that more to Rachel really because yes, he could charm the panties off of a cougar, but in front of big crowds he was less effective (especially if he wasn't allowed to appear sexually available, 'cause, y'know, he was with Berry now. Sorta.).

Speaking of the 'love of his life', she seemed to notice that he was worrying about something because she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and kissed his arm, just where his t-shirt ended and his skin showed. He gave her a half smile, the nerves in his stomach unable to let him produce anything more confident. She kissed his arm again and he wrapped his arm around her as they continued to wait for whatever reason the organisers had gathered them all here.

They had only been putting on their pretence of a relationship for a day and Puck found that he had a slight problem…he was enjoying it just a little too much.

He knew that he and Rachel were only pretending but he'd been so starved of any contact with hot girls the last few months! Like, he seriously couldn't remember the last chick he'd kissed (apart from Berry, of course) but it would've been before Evie was born and that was well over two months ago! He hadn't had such a dry spell since he was thirteen. He was sure that his liking of the false relationship thing had nothing to do with Berry in particular; Suzy Pepper could be kissing and cuddling up to him and he was sure he'd feel exactly the same way.

Puck wasn't sure whether to indulge his enjoyment at being with a girl again or to try and stop himself from feeling anything. On the one hand he and Berry needed to make their relationship as realistic as possible for the contest but Rachel was, like, his best friend and he didn't want to ruin their friendship by taking advantage of her because she happened to be a girl…

His thoughts were interrupted as an old couple entered the room and some of the entrants burst into spontaneous applause. Puck looked around in bewilderment until Rachel grabbed his t-shirt to bring him down closer to her level. "I think it's them," she whispered.

"Er, who?"

"Rita and Gerald Barker – the couple who started all of this." She elaborated.

"Ohhh. _Damn_, they're old!"

She jabbed her elbow into his chest.

They did look old though as they motioned for the people to stop in their applause, probably because they were, like, one hundred years old. He couldn't believe they'd been together since way before his mom was even born!

"Gerald and I would just like to say a few words before you take to the stage," Rita explained, holding tight to her husband's hand.

"As some of you may be aware, this competition takes place on the anniversary of when I proposed to my love, my Rita." He smiled affectionately at his wife and she smiled back, teary-eyed. "The first competition took place on our wedding day and has been happening for fifty years. So this year is particularly special for us because it is the fiftieth anniversary of both this event and our marriage."

The competitors burst into spontaneous applause again and Puck joined in so that he didn't look like a douche and y'know, if you live 'til you're a hundred (or however old they really were) with your other half then you deserved some sort of award.

"We wish you all the very best of luck over the next few days," Rita said as the noise died down, "and hopefully the rest of your lives together. We know that you all want to win but love is what this event is all about and we hope you are as blessed as we have been."

Puck cast a slightly guilty glance at Rachel and she was biting her lip. He could tell that she, like he, wished that they didn't have to lie to be a part of this competition but they had little choice if they wanted to pay that money to Principal Figgins.

The founders gave them all a parting wave and then they walked out of the room. Puck checked his watch. There were now only ten minutes until the start of the competition. However, being the fifteenth couple to perform meant that he and Rachel wouldn't be singing until well over an hour from now.

The man who had taken them to their audition stepped forward. His name was Malcolm and he was, like, the boss backstage. He instructed the first three couples to make their way to the stage and then informed the rest of them that it would make his and his colleagues' lives a lot easier if the contenders remained in this room when it was nearly their time to perform. And then, he too, was gone.

"Do you want to watch the first half with Kurt or just hang back here?" Puck whispered at Rachel, as the buzz of other conversations filled the room.

"We should scout out the competition," she replied without taking much time to think about it. "Come on, if we hurry we won't miss the start."

He allowed himself to be pulled along by her as they gently made their way through the other people and then they walked quickly so that they could find Kurt and Evie before the first acts started.

They found Kurt right at the back, a seat he'd chosen so that he could make an easy getaway if Evie started to cry. "We decided to watch the first half with you," Berry whispered in answer to Kurt's quizzical expression at their arrival. There were still a few empty seats right at the back but the rest of the theatre seemed completely full.

Puck swallowed his nerves, took Evie from Kurt and then settled down to see if any of these mother-fuckers were going to stop him and Berry from winning.

"You're the couple with the little baby, aren't you?"

Puck turned at the voice, immediately feeling defensive whenever Evie was mentioned. It was a man and a woman, only a few years older than he and Rachel. He didn't recognise them so they must be one of the couples in the second half.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to ask that so bluntly," the woman carried on, laughing slightly. She was blonde and absolutely hot as fuck. He glanced at the guy and Puck could recognise _without_ sounding like a homo, thanks, that he was good looking too.

"S'alright," Puck shrugged. "Yeah, that's my daughter."

"Oh, she's so cute! Hardly surprising considering who her parents are," the blonde said, motioning to himself and Berry. Puck smirked and he saw Rachel turn slightly pink.

"Actually she's not mine," she explained.

"_See_, I told you that," the guy spoke for the first time. "Oh, God, we must sound like the rudest people on the planet talking about you behind your backs. I was only saying to Miranda that I didn't think she could be your child because there's no way that body of yours could have given birth a couple of months ago. I mean, it's perfect."

Rachel went scarlet this time and Puck laughed as she managed a strangled, "Thank you."

"I'm Gary, by the way, and this is my fiancée Miranda."

They all shook hands and muttered 'nice to meet you's.

"So what did you think of the first half?" Miranda asked. "I take it you watched from somewhere."

Rachel nodded. "We sat with our friend Kurt and I have to say that we were all quite impressed with the standard so far. The ones that sang Beyoncé were incredible and I loved the version of Bleeding Love that the second pair did."

Gary nodded. "They were probably the best ones. I wasn't so keen on the Miley song but that's just more my taste in music."

"And it probably didn't help that the couple singing it were about fifty," Miranda said. "What position are you guys going on?"

"Fifteenth," Puck said, figuring that he might as well contribute to this conversation instead of staring at Miranda…

"Oh, you're two after us; we're thirteenth," Gary said and Miranda grimaced.

"Superstitious?" Rachel enquired. Puck frowned and then he remembered about the number thirteen being unlucky.

Gary laughed at the look on his fiancée's face and kissed her cheek. "Honey, I told you, we don't need luck, good or bad, to get through."

Their open affection shocked Puck into remembering that he was _supposed_ to be in love with Rachel and he tried to nonchalantly take her hand, threading his fingers through hers. She looked at him suspiciously, as though she knew _exactly_ what (or rather who) he'd been thinking about a few seconds ago.

"Well, we're going to go and warm up our voices." Rachel said. "Good luck with your song, I hope you get through."

Miranda and Gary wished them luck in return before Rachel had pulled him off somewhere else.

"Er, so do you want to warm up?" Puck asked, avoiding her gaze. He felt guilty about the staring at Miranda thing because it wasn't good for their cover and it also felt like he'd upset her…like he'd been unfaithful or something completely insane like that. Looking wasn't cheating, he should know, he'd done plenty of cheating and yet none of it had given him the uneasy feeling it did now. He mentally shook himself for thinking like a fucking crazy person and made himself look up.

Rachel was smiling at him. "You know what they were doing, don't you?"

"Uh, _what?_" He screwed up his face in confusion.

"Gary and Miranda. They were playing mind games, Noah." Rachel explained. "Trying to be all nice and flattering so that we'd trust them but secretly they were seeing what we were like and if there's any way they can psych us out."

Puck blinked.

"This competition might be about love, like the Barkers said, but it is _still _a competition and a performing one at that. And I've been part of enough of these things to know that you can't trust any of your fellow competitors because they all want to win as badly as you do and they'll do almost anything to make that happen." Her eyes were all lit up and there was a steely determination in her voice. She looked like she could conquer the world and Puck wasn't about to stand in her way.

Fuck, she looked beautiful like that. Maybe beautiful wasn't the right word. She looked ass-kicking fantastic, and before he could stop himself he imagined her pushing him down to the floor and transferring that passion she had about winning over to rocking his fucking world.

He physically shook himself this time.

This was his best friend he was fantasising about. _Get a fucking grip Puckerman_, he told himself. Man, he needed to get laid as soon as this was over. Maybe Santana…

Rachel softened her features and gave him a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I get a bit stressed about competitions and well, this one is really quite important. Why don't you grab your guitar and we'll warm up."

"Sure," he mumbled, slightly relieved to step away from her for a few seconds. He was horny, that was all this was about. First that Miranda chick took him by surprise and Rachel wasn't exactly an uggo… He was just being a guy.

The first two couples of the second half were called to the stage as Puck retrieved his guitar and his nerves came back in full force after temporarily being overshadowed by those, uh, other, feelings. Time to focus on the competition and their song.

He grinned as the melody came floating through his head.

Rachel looked at him curiously as he came to stand back next to her. "What's up?"

"I just wish I had the internet on my phone that's all."

"Why?"

"So I could watch that kid sing our song again."

Rachel laughed. "You've already watched that YouTube clip a hundred times, Noah. Besides I find it hard enough to not think of that version of the song while we sing it anyway. A fresh viewing would do us absolutely no good so close to our performance."

Puck chuckled. "Yeah, I know." Then before Berry could stop him he plucked the strings of his guitar and made noises that sounded vaguely like he was singing lyrics before he finished with a slightly more intelligible, "I'm yours."

She looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh. "You're an idiot," she said between stifled giggles.

"You love it," he retorted.

She shrugged, and after a half glance across the room, leaned up on her toes so she could wrap her arms around his neck. "Maybe," she breathed softly. He felt his blood heat up slightly as he felt her body press against his. _We're acting_ he told himself, _just acting._ He was both glad and annoyed that having his guitar in his hand stopped him from putting his arms around her in return and placing his hands just above her ass.

Her eyes fluttered closed and suddenly her lips were on his, all softness and light pressure. _We're acting_, he reminded himself again, so that he didn't get caught up in how fucking good it felt.

"Couple twelve to the stage!" A voice shouted across the room and Puck felt Rachel jump away from him in surprise. She smiled somewhat shyly up at him.

"Um, so warming up," she stated quietly. "It sounds like we haven't got that much longer to get ready."

It felt like they'd only been getting their voices prepared for a couple of minutes before their number was being called. Rachel gripped his hand and he tried to stop himself feeling like he was going to puke all over the floor. He'd done this sorta thing before with the glee club so he should be fine. Okay, so there were normally ten other people on that stage but he had the best one from New Directions with him and they'd been fucking awesome in their audition that morning. As long as he was with Rachel he'd be fine.

They arrived backstage just as Miranda and Gary finished off their song – Hero by that Spanish singer, Enrico Inglayfish, or something. They were pretty good; right up there with the best from the first half and Rachel sent him a worried glance. "We're gonna kick their asses, Rach." He whispered in her ear so that she'd hear him over the noise of the audience's applause. She squeezed his hand and sent him a grateful smile.

The couple before them were now on the stage singing something that Puck didn't recognise.

"It's Can't Fight the Moonlight by LeAnn Rimes," Berry informed him and he thought she was telling him so that she had something to say. He shrugged because he really didn't care. This couple weren't as good as his 'friends' Miranda and Gary but they were still okay.

The backstage guy, Malcolm, came over to get Puck all set up with his microphone. They'd requested one that slipped over his ear so that he was free to move around during the performance while he played his guitar. During the first two days of competition the music had to be provided by the competitors either by playing live themselves or with a CD backing. Then on the last day for the final two rounds there would be musicians there to play to give it more of a grand finale.

Malcolm seemed happy that everything was in order and he motioned them to move further forward and closer to the wing of the stage. "You exit off the other side," he told them and Puck nodded. "Be ready to go on as soon as these two have finished." Puck nodded again, a little more stiffly this time because he could recognize, even if he didn't know the song, that it was drawing to a close and soon it would only be him, Berry and his guitar against the world…sorta.

"Good luck, Noah," Rachel whispered, quickly dropping a kiss on his cheek. He pulled her into a one arm hug and kissed the top of her head. "You too, B."

The song ended and the lights stayed on for a few seconds allowing the other couple to wave goodbye and then they dimmed into near darkness as he and Berry took their places on the stage.

"Please welcome couple number fifteen, from Lima, Ohio, Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman!" Someone announced and the audience clapped politely. Puck got his fingers in the right position for the opening chord and glanced at Rachel. She smiled and nodded as the lights brightened. He took a deep breath and began to play.

As the first few familiar notes were played out across the theatre Puck felt himself relax and he smiled at Rachel. This competition was so fucking on. She was swaying slightly next to him and he thought they probably looked like they were mad because they were just grinning at each other but hopefully they looked madly in love instead.

Rachel opened her mouth and began to sing.

"Well you done done me and you bet I felt it  
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted  
I fell right through the cracks  
And now I'm trying to get back"

Her voice sounded fucking fantastic as she looked so cute, yes damn it, _cute_ as she acted along to the words pretending to fan herself because he was 'so hot' and then melting. Time for him to take over.

"Before the cool done run out  
I'll be giving it my bestest  
Nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention  
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some"

Once he'd started singing the tension was completely gone and he was struck like he had been at their audition by how right it felt to sing with Rachel like this. They started walking towards each other as they began to sing together, her voice lifting to bring a harmony.

"But I won't hesitate no more, no more  
It cannot wait, I'm yours"

They turned away from each other towards the audience and sang, still in harmony to the few hundred people there.

"Well open up your mind and see like me  
Open up your plans and damn you're free  
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love  
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing  
We're just one big family  
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved"

It was hard to make out many faces in the audience because the light was shining so brightly in his eyes and the people, of course, were in darkness but from what he could see they seemed to be enjoying their song. A thrill went through him as he turned back to Rachel to sing the chorus with her.

"So I won't hesitate no more, no more  
It cannot wait I'm sure  
There's no need to complicate  
Our time is short  
This is our fate, I'm yours"

Rachel gave him an innocent smile and sang;

"D-d-do do you, but do you, d-d-do  
But do you want to come on  
Smooch on over closer dear  
And I will nibble your ear"

She'd skipped towards him and beckoned him towards her and he'd seriously thought that she was going to bite his ear. He was amazed at how in-character she was for this song compared to how they'd done it a couple of days ago for the glee club. Everything seemed to be going perfectly and he made himself concentrate so that he didn't screw this all up.

He carried on playing the music as she ad-libbed a few notes as they performed a little dance-y step-y sequence that Matt had taught to them so that they weren't just standing around singing. He caught Rachel's eye and made sure that she kept it because this next part was where they'd had a little bit of trouble in their practices; the guitar dropped away quite a lot and they had to keep their singing in time with each other because Puck always wanted to slow down and Rachel didn't.

"But I won't hesitate no more, no more  
It cannot wait I'm yours"

He relaxed again, relieved that they'd got through it. The guitar picked up once more but their voices split; Puck carried on with the normal chorus slightly quieter than Rachel who took on the newer part.

"Open up your mind and see like me (I won't hesitate)  
Open up your plans and damn you're free (No more, no more)  
Look into your heart and you'll find the sky is yours (It cannot wait, I'm sure)

So please don't, please don't, please don't (There's no need to complicate)  
There's no need to complicate (Our time is short)  
'Cause our time is short (This is our fate)  
This is, this is, this is our fate,  
I'm yours."

They sang the last two words facing each other and neither of them could contain their broad smiles as the audience erupted into loud applause. They waved a little bit before Rachel grabbed his hand and practically pulled him off the stage.

"Hey! They were loving us out there." He protested and she shook her head slightly.

"Always leave them wanting more, Noah." Her eyes were alight with passion again but this was a kinda different passion. Before she'd looked like she was gonna kick someone's ass but this time it was more like she was alive, which was a stupid description because of course she was alive, but she seemed properly alive, like, _extra_ alive. He shook his head slightly in annoyance at being unable to find the right words to describe her. Whatever, she looked amazing, and he had absolutely no hesitation in pulling her towards him. She squeaked in surprise but he cut her off by kissing her firmly on the lips.

It took her only a couple of seconds to respond and he had just managed to part her lips with his tongue when someone cleared their throat next to him. Puck was tempted to ignore them but he could feel Rachel pulling away from him so he looked round.

"I need to get the mic off you," one of the backstage people said. She looked quite embarrassed to have interrupted them.

"Uh, sure." Puck agreed, letting the woman come forward.

"You two might as well just wait back here seeing as there are only a couple of acts left. Everyone walks across stage one more time so the audience remember who you are." She said, successfully removing the microphone.

They moved to stand in the wings so they could watch the last couple of acts.

"You were fucking awesome by the way," Puck whispered in Rachel's ear. She beamed at him.

"Thank you, Noah, you were most excellent yourself. And I think our acting has really come along too – I think we more than convinced that stagehand of our relationship."

Puck nodded. Yeah, _acting._

Before the final act was over they were herded to be back with the other contestants so they were in their performance order.

"You just walk across the stage and wave," Malcolm called in a loud whisper.

The line of couples gradually diminished and next it was Puck and Rachel's turn.

"Couple number fifteen from Lima, Ohio, Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman who sang 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz." The announcer called and Puck and Rachel smiled and waved as they walked across the front of the stage. The audience clapped appreciatively and Puck couldn't help but feel that they had a good chance of getting through to the next round.

"Okay folks, you have ten minutes to vote for your three favourite couples on your ballot paper and get them to one of our voting boxes. It should then take us about half an hour to establish a result." Those were the last words Puck heard the announcer make before he and Rachel were away from the stage and following the couple in front of them back to the room where they had waited to be called.

So they had about forty minutes until they would know if they were through or not. What the hell were they supposed to do in that time? They'd already been told that they had to stay in the few rooms available to the contestants while the voting and counting were going on so he and Rachel couldn't even go and see Evie and Kurt to while away the time.

The main room was rather busy by the time they got there and they could only find one seat for them both.

"Sit on my lap," Puck suggested, not even bothering to hide a yawn. He supposed he should've done the nice-boyfriend thing and offered her the seat but he didn't fancy sitting on the floor.

"Okay," she agreed and Puck smiled as she politely hid _her_ yawn.

Now that they'd done their first song the adrenaline had completely gone and he wanted to just get into a bed and sleep for about a month. He and Berry had been on the go pretty much since Evie was born and doubly so since they'd been preparing for Chicago. He loved Evie and all but she didn't make looking after her very easy for him.

He sank down into the chair with a groan, sounding like an eighty year old and then his groan changed somewhat as Rachel settled onto his lap. She wasn't heavy or anything, it was just that her weight was kinda...nice.

Rachel leant her cheek against the top of his chest and he felt her give a large sigh.

"You okay there, B?" he asked, trying to resist the pull of his eyes to close.

"Yes, I'm wonderful," she said, her breath tickling under his chin.

"Good," he said – or rather, mumbled, he couldn't be bothered to form words properly right now.

"Hey! Wake up sleepy-heads, they want us back on stage."

Puck's eyes snapped open and he blinked rapidly as his eyes got used to the level of light.

A man and woman were standing over him and Rachel, smirking at them.

"You're lucky my wife keeps a tight leash on me," the man said, "I desperately wanted to draw on your faces with pen."

Still sleep-muddled, Puck wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Well, thank you for not doing so," Rachel replied also sounding sleepy. "The result is in?"

"Yep," the woman replied, reaching out a hand to help Rachel off Puck's lap. "We guessed you didn't want to miss the announcement."

Puck drew the back of his hand across his eyes. "Yeah, we'd rather not." Now that he was a little more awake he recognised the couple as being from the first half – they'd sung the Leona Lewis song and been very good.

"Thanks for waking us," Rachel said and the couple smiled at each other.

"No problem, honey," the man said. "We remember when our first one was born. There was never enough time in the day for sleep."

"Uh, yeah, things are a bit crazy at the moment," Puck admitted.

"Come on, we don't want to be late." The woman said as she started to walk out of the room and her husband followed her.

Puck raised an eyebrow at Rachel. "Friend or foe?" he whispered to her.

Rachel shook her head slightly. "I told you, Noah, they're all foes."

They made their way quickly to the stage and the organisers ordered them to their designated spot on stage just before the curtains rose. Puck could finally see the man who did all the announcements because he was standing in front of all the couples.

"Welcome back everyone. We have the results of your votes and I will now read out the names of the three couples who will sadly not be continuing through to the next round."

Rachel gripped his hand tightly.

"The first couple to be leaving us are...Maria and Joseph Walker."

There was polite applause as the couple glumly left the stage.

Puck swallowed nervously.

"The next unlucky couple are...Steve Wright and Annabel Milowska."

He took a deep breath. Only one couple left to go. _Fuck, don't let it be us_.

"And our final unsuccessful couple are...Tammy and Tony Fisher."

They were through.

* * *

A/N As stated above the song that Puck and Rachel sing is 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz. I did have another song in mind for the 00s round but I hadn't realised that it wasn't really a hit in the US so I had to find something else and it took me FOREVER to think of I'm Yours. There is a YouTube video of a young boy singing that song whilst playing the ukulele (although I use the term 'singing' very lightly) and it's both utterly hilarious and cute so go check it out! And the song 'Hero' is by Enrique Iglesias and very early on I had considered using that song for Puck and Rachel in this round but I decided against it in the end.

The names of Gary and Miranda are taken from a British comedy show that I LOVE at the moment so please just ignore that little indulgence from me.

I do have a COLOSSAL thank you to say to whoever nominated my stories for the Puckleberry Fanfiction awards. This story is up for best WIP, Aviophobia is up for best one-shot and I Dare You for best humour. I was utterly gobsmacked that some of you put my stories forward. I am so grateful. If you want to vote for your favourite Puckleberry stories (not just mine of course :-D ) I think today (26th Aug) is the last day for you to do so, so google it to find out more!

I'd love to hear your feedback.

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx

PS Sorry I didn't reply to your reviews this time round – I need to go and cook a three course meal for my Mum and sister. We're doing our own version of Come Dine With Me (if you know what that is!).


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